Frozen Through Time
by SecretReading
Summary: AU where Jack Frost is frozen alongside Steve Rogers! He crashes through the windshield as the jet goes down, and is last thing Steve Rogers sees before crashing into the ice. When they crash into the icy water, Jack panics and freezes everything, and they both fade unconscious trapped in the ice..
1. Chapter 1

_Darkness. That's the first thing I remember. It was dark, and it was cold, and I was scared. But then, then I... saw the moon. It was so big and it was so bright, and it seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did... I wasn't scared anymore. _

_Why I was there, and what I was meant to do - that I've never known. And a part of me wonders if I ever will. I remember looking around, confused and looking to the moon for guidance. The only thing it gave was a dimming in its bright sheen. _

_More confused than ever, I stepped carefully across the ice. I looked up to see the frozen trees, covered in glistening snow. They the seemed to be leaning in, and the world around me seemed to be holding its breath._

_A light pain in my toe startled me out of my trance. Looking down, I found the offending object. A simple wooden staff, with a hooked end. I gingerly nudged it with my toe, and small patterns spread across its length. Intrigued, I picked it up, and I felt the raw energy run through my fingers. The staff must've felt the same way, because it lit up like a Christmas tree, glowing an eerie, calming blue. Odd._

_Studying the strange stick, a burst of energy light up the staff once more. I fumbled with it, and the energy that had been running through my fingers was channelled through the staff and spread over the ice around me. Frost. It's was unique and perfectly patterned, yet random all at the same time._

_I was now more confused than ever! What was this stick? And what was this strange connection I felt with it? Curiously, I touched the curved end of the strange staff to a nearby_ cluster_ of trees. The same thing happened! The frost wasn't so rushed and excited. It was slow and beautiful. Fern-like curls erupted from where the staff came in contact with the tree. Looking down, I noticed that these were the same patterns as the ones on my staff._

_I touched another tree, I did it again and again! It felt so good! Me! I was creating these beautiful patterns. A giddy sense of childlike euphoria over come me and I ran freely across the frozen pond, the staff trailing behind me, leaving the frost patterns all over the pond. I twirled and jumped, slipped and slid all over the pong, spreading the frost. My frost! It was amazing! The world around me seemed to sigh._

_It... it was one of the only times I can remember being truly happy..._

* * *

><p>Jack sat on a thatched roof, staring at the only thing that had ever talked to him, let alone, recognised him since it woke up. his name? Jack Frost. How does he know? The Moon told him so. But that was all it ever told him. Now it ignored him as he tried to remember something. <em>Anything<em>. He sat on that stupid roof, cold tears threatening to spill down his frozen face as he racked his brain. Jack could remember some things, like what a town looked like, how to make a fire, the feeling of going to sleep after a long day's work.

But how does he know how to do these things, and what they feel like? Where are the memories that should accompany them? But most of all, why can't anyone _see_ him? Jack watched young children shout and play in the village centre, their parents sitting with tired smiles on their faces, huddled together by a cozy fire. He felt a pang in his heart. He _knows_ what it feels like to thaw out by a fire, but he can't remember.

Jack curled up into a frozen ball on the roof, not at all fazed of the fact the he was laying almost vertical, he just wanted to forget todays events, but how could he forget the only memories hes ever made. It wasn't very comfortable, but Jack managed to use his staff for balance and shut his eyes and doze for a short while.

Jack's eyes snapped open and he was on his feet instantly as a loud yell echoed through the town. A huge, burly man stood next to the ashes of a cold fire, dressed in warm winter attire. Jack wondered _'why I didn't get cold?'_ It probably had something to do with the frost thing.

The sun was in the process of replacing the moon as it peaked it fiery head over the horizon. All the townspeople began to shuffle out of their respective homes. The white-haired boy took this as his cue to leave. Jumping into their air, he let the playful tug of the wind whisk him away.

* * *

><p>Jack didn't know where he was. Somewhere cold. He was lounging across that back of someone's horse, as they trudged the freshly fallen snow that he had recently created. There were three warmly dressed men, and they were each grumbling about having to ride through the snow. Jack was on the leader's horse, and he was grumbling the most, and the loudest. By the sounds of the man rumblings, the Frost Spirit had slowed down their schedule by a couple of hours. Smirking to himself, Jack waved his staff and a light snow began to fall.<p>

The guy went ballistic. He absolutely hated snow by the sounds of it. He turned his head upwards and shouted obscenities at the sky. Jack's smirk turned into a frosty grin. One of the men behind him turned and stared wide-eyed in his direction and Jack gasped. Had.. had he seen him? Ah, nope. He was gaping at one of the particularly nasty things the guy up front had said. He was still ranting and raving about the snow.

Jack rolled his eyes. _'Geez lighten up'_ he muttered. Floating down to scoop up some of the freshly fallen powdery substance, Jack took aim at the man's face and blew it at him. The man stopped his grumbling and his face went a little slack for a second. Jack's eyes widened and he panicked, thinking that he had hurt him somehow, when the man began giggling. His giggling turned into roaring laughter as he halted the group and jumped off of his horse. He began throwing snow at the others. Jack was completely shocked. What had he done to this man?

Jack needed to try this again. Leaning on his trusted staff, once more, he scooped up some snow, and doing the exact same thing to the other two men. After a brief stunned moment, they both joined their leader to frolic in the snow. Jack began laughing himself! He was overjoyed at the discovery of a new power! Finding out about a new power meant discovering more about himself, and he hoped one day to discover his memories. With a wistful sigh, the boy took to the sky, leaving three grown men to play in the snow.

* * *

><p>Jack guessed he was loitering somewhere in the arctic. He was planning on extending the ice flats more into the sea, when a screeching noise sounded in the distance. 'Oh god.' Jack groaned. His experience with jets has never been memorable. He remembered his first encounter with one of those nasty machines. Jack was trying to freeze a cloud in a particularly humid country, when a thing came out of nowhere and almost killed him! It hit him head on, and the startled boy tumbled across the top of it before falling through the sky. Luckily enough, Jack just caught himself before he hit the ground, but it was definitely a learning experience for him. He has avoided them ever since.<p>

Jack began to drift away, when he noticed that the thing was heading straight for him. He also noticed that it was a strange shape, and colour for that matter. Jack called the wind to him and began to move faster out of the machine's path but had little time to get very far before he crashed through the windscreen. Jack would have felt bad, but it already had some holes in it, so it didn't seem like too big of an issue. He noticed that there was only one person aboard, he was dressed in a blue and white suit, and someone was saying his name over the radio. 'Steve, STEVE!'

Steve could only stare dumbfounded, at the alien being that has just crashed through his windshield, and was unable to answer to his name being called. Wait.. that man could see him? Jack thought. He could see HIM?! The spirit had only just realised that we were crashing though, and had no time to ponder the matter. Another thing he didn't have time for was to escape before the ship made impact.

They both saw stars when they hit the ice, and it was by far one of the worst impacts Jack have ever had. Sure, he's fallen from the sky before, but he was always really light, so could usually dust himself off and move on. But this was tons of projected metal crashing in front of Jack and behind him. It felt like Steve and he were both thrown from the jet and into the water. There were flashes of white and blue, as water and ice swirled around them. Jack could feel Steve thrashing around beside him. He clutched his staff like a lifeline, as he couldn't bear to let it go. It was dark, and it was cold, and he was scared. But this time, Jack didn't see the moon.

He was panicking now, Jack had lived over 200 years, so he knew age couldn't kill him, but he was so sure that this would. Jack hadn't exactly tested my limits. He was now beyond scared. Panicking, he released a burst of energy, freezing the water around him.

Everything was still; there was no thrashing, or splashing anymore. Jack couldn't move. He saw Steve though. The soldier was directly in his line of vision. Oh god, no. How was Jack going to get out of here? He could freeze water, not melt ice! He controls the cold things, not the warm things! Oh god, what had he done. Jack's eyes drooped. When was the last time he had slept? It felt like years ago. Steve seemed to be sleeping. So Jack slept, the world around him went black, and his consciousness slipped away...

* * *

><p>AN This is my first time writing a fic, and this AU is one I've always wanted to see so I decided to write one myself! Please review, any criticism welcome!


	2. Chapter 2

It was so dark, and he was still so _tired_. The world was still, yet he heard voices echoing around him. Jack heard loud scraping noises, heavy machinery whirring, and echoed shouts. Crack. The ice encasing his frozen body loosened, and all of a sudden he was free! He wasn't tired anymore! He was energised! Light as a feather. The dazed spirit began to sit up, when the memories washed through his brain. Steve. The jet. The crash. The ice.

He _saw_ him.

Frantically, Jack looked around. He saw that he and Steve hadn't actually been flung from the jet, as they were still inside. And it was just a little more frozen that he remembered. Steve had been dug out of the ice, and there were men crouched over him. There was so much activity in this place! Jack couldn't believe how many huge machines they fit into the frozen ship!

Jack was beginning to get feeling back into my hands, so he put one hand beside me on the ice, trying to stand up. Leaning on his staff, Jack shook his head, and looked around. He needed to get out of here. The nervous boy took a step and fell over, hitting his head. Jack groaned and lifted his head from the slippery ice. The room was silent as more than a dozen heads turned to looked in his direction. Those who didn't gasp had their mouths hung open, their jaws slack.

Jack found the situation hard to believe. He has tried _so many times_ to get people to notice him, and all it took here was for Jack to fall over and hit his head. Really, the noise wasn't that loud. Jack was paralysed with shock as a dark skinned man in a black trench coat cautiously approached scared looking boy. He had an eye-patch too. Yep. Jack decided it was time to get the hell outa there. Jack's previous experience with big scary guys with eye patches haven't been too memorable.

Clutching his staff in one hand, Jack hovered in the air, and everyone gasped this time. Well, everyone except the dark skinned man. He was actually getting a lot closer, at a much quicker pace. Jack panicked and flew up at full speed, faster than when he was attacked by that stupid savage wolf. Jack must've forgotten he was underground though, because he saw stars when pain erupted from my head when it hit the ceiling at full speed. Jack crumpled to the ground. Groaning once more from head trauma, Jack turned my head, and the last thing he saw was a red white and blue emblem plastered onto a shield before darkness clouded over his vision.

* * *

><p>Nick Fury stood over the sleeping boy with a scowl on his face. He and Steve had been transported onto the shield Hellicarrier a little over a week ago now, and were sleeping soundly. The machines showed the boys temperature was just a little over 30 degrees. Which wasn't possible by human standards, but Fury had seen stranger things in his life. What had been strange though, was that when he assigned his top scientists to examine, they reported that the kid had escaped!<p>

He had abandoned everything, rushed over to the examination room, only to see a sleeping boy tucked safely away in his sleeping caspule. Fury was, well, was furious, thinking that the agents had played some kind of practical joke. After a few minutes of shouting and yelling at them, He realised that they actually _couldn't see him. _He then had to spend 20 minutes convincing SHIELD's top scientists that he was there, they just could'nt see him. It took a lot of pesuasion, but one of the less sceptical scientists had stared really hard at the capsule and gasped in surprise. He began babbling that there really was a white-haired boy lying in there, and one by one, the others saw him.

That had been an awkward time for Fury, and Nick Fury does no do awkward. Fury sighed, rubbing his hand over his face, and thought about the current situation. What if this kid was dangerous? Fury couldnt just let him go. If worst comes to worst the kid would have to be detained. But what if he was complient. A thought came to mind. This kid could fly, and survive 70 years trapped in solid ice. He could be useful. Fury knew he needed to keep the flying boy in his sights. But, if he was to be useful, he would need training...

* * *

><p><em>'Ugh, lights. Ugh, voices. Go away noisy people, leave me to sleep.' <em>Jack thought as he awoke. He groaned a loud, somewhat obnoxious groan before opening my eyes. The voices got louder and more frantic. He could hear people shouting and rushing around, but all Jack could see was the ceiling. Once again, memories flooded his brain and a gasp escaped his thoughts. He bolted upright, shattering the glass that had been encasing me. '_Head wound #3.' _he thought.

More people yelled, but they were yelling at him this time. His one track mind didn't want to hear what they were saying, and at that moment Jack didn't even care whether they could see him or not. All he wanted was his staff. The only thing Jack held precious. His one and only possession, aside from the clothes on his back.

The atmosphere changed all of a sudden. It went from frantic and rushed to silent and tense. Jack was confused as to why when Fury walked in. He had that no-nonsense look about him, and it looked like everyone in the room respected that. Jack's eyes narrowed and he sat stiff as a board in the glass-strewn box as the man approached. He wasn't cautious, and looked pretty confident he knew what he was doing. But Jack could see the noticed in his features.

Finally the taller man spoke. "Who are you, and why were you found in the ice?" His voice held an air of authority to it, and Jack knew immediately that he was the one in charge. He tried to act casual. Jack didn't want to say anything just yet though, so he examined my fingernails, touching each of them and spreading miniature frosted patterns all along the surface,

Fury watched my with a quirked eyebrow. '_Who did this kid think he was?'_

"I do not like to repeat myself. So I'll ask another question instead. He took a step closer and crouched down to my level, and looked me in the eyes as his voice softened. "What is your name?"

Jack looked him in the eye, forcing his own expression blank. This was the first real person who had ever talked to him directly. The least he thought he could do was tell him his name. It was supposed to come out confident, and confident, but instead sounded low, and quiet. "Jack Frost" I whispered.

Jack heard a few of the others snicker at that. He immediately shut my mouth, a hurt expression taking over my features. Ouch, why did that sting so much? A hard look covered Eyepatch's previously surprised face. He stood straight up and turned. "That's it!" He boomed, "Every agent leave the room AT ONCE!" All of the people slunk out of the room.

The already nervous boy cringed at the volume of Fury's voice, but was also intrigued by his words. _'Agents?'_ He thought, '_Where the hell was I?_' He turned back to me, his hard features softening once more. Fury wasnt exactly sure how to talk to this kid, but it seemed like his hardass attitude wouldn't work. "Jack Frost. That's certainly a fitting name. I am Director Nick Fury. And welcome to the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I know it's a mouthful, so it is better known as S.H.I.E.L.D. You are currently aboard the Helicarrier. Do you have any questions, Jack Frost?"

His mouth was dry. Jack had so many questions. They were bouncing around inside his frosted head, vying for a chance be spoken. But there was a few questions that rose above the rest, "What happened? Why am I here? Where is my staff!?" he demanded.

Fury smirked at that. "Well, Mr. Frost your staff is in a safe place rest assured. You were found frozen in the ice next to a 92 year old super soldier. You've been unconscious for weeks and you've been here ever since. You were very cold when we pulled you out, and your body temperature was so low we were surprised your blood hadn't yet frozen in your veins. But you were alive. We tried everything to get you warm again, even had our top scientists build a specialised chamber to warm you up. But... You didn't respond well. As your body heated up you got weaker and weaker, your heartbeat slowed and you pulse thinned. So we left you just as you were, and you got better. Your body temperature says you shouldn't be alive, but you are, Mr. Frost. Not only that but you survived an air crash and was alive after nearly 70 years of being frozen in ice. So I have another question for you. How?"

Jack gulped. Wow, this Fury guy had really explained it well. Jack knew from experience that he didn't react well to hot weather, and generally tended to stay in the colder parts of the world. Seventy years had passed as well, meaning that he was now a little over 300 years old. How does he explain to this man that he was an ancient being that controls wind and ice? Jack decided to answer his original question first.

"To answer your first question, I crashed through the windshield of the jet and didn't have enough time to escape so I crashed as well."

Jack fell silent, awating Fury's reply.

'And there is nothing else you wish to tell me, Mr. Frost?'

"Uh, nope! That's all folks, come back tommorrow for more of Jack's backstory. Maybe I'll tell you more if I had my staff with me. It's always been a great conversation starter."

Fury remained calm and stoic, though Jack could see the twinge of annoyance in his eyes. The only change in expression was a quirked eyebrow when I mentioned my staff. He blinked at me before turning away to talk into his handheld device, mumbling something about Jack's staff. It wasn't even 10 seconds before an agent walked in, carrying his staff. Jack stood up, ignoring the dizzy feeling in my head and rushed toward my staff.

He began to rush forward, but Fury sidestepped in front of him. "Tell me more, Jack Frost."

Jack rolled his eyes._ 'I may as well get it over and done with.'_ he thought. "You really want to know? Fine. Here we go. I'm an immortal frost spirit, I control the wind and ice, and I turned 300 while I was stuck in the ice. Steve was the first person to ever see me, and.. I-" Jack's voice choked up as tears threatened his eyes. He shook them away and cleared his throat. "I have roamed the earth invisible for a long time, bringing snow to different places of the world. My staff is the only thing I own, so GIVE IT THE HELL BACK!" Jack finished with a loud shout, so angry at himslef for telling this man so much.

Fury's face was the same as Jack had seen it last, still in it's poker position. But, he did step aside, a silent message that he was now allowed to retrieve his staff. Jack ran forward toward the starteld looking man and approached hastily.

He snatched it out of the agents hand and crouched over it, hugging it to my chest like he had previously seen mothers do with their children. Jack felt my energy return, and floated a few feet off the ground to stretch out his aching limbs. When Jack was done Fury stared at him with his stoic expression, a hint of intrigue shining in his eye.

Jack scowled at him and lowered himself to the floor. "Well, Jack Frost, I've seen stranger things before. But, I would like to keep you here for observation. I want to find out more about you."

Jack opened my mouth to argue, but shut it again at Fury's no-nonsense expression, deciding to deepen his scowl again. He decided to save the arguing for when he had more answers. Suddenly, Jack was jolted out of his thoughts by a sudden memory. "Where is Steve?" he asked. Fury quirked an eyebrow at the bold boy in front of him. He decided to humor him. "He has been awake for days and, and has been asking to see you. Would you like to meet him?"

Jack gulped and nodded his head. He was more that ready to meet the first person who ever saw him.


	3. Chapter 3

Click click click. The only thing Jack could hear was the pronounced clicking of Fury's boots as they echoed throughout the wide hallway. He walked beside Fury as we passed a few agents that were loitering in the hallways, and every single one of them stared bug-eyed in Jack's direction. So now he had a whole Hellicarier full of people who could see him?

"Hey, um.. Fury..."

Fury's pace didn't slow with his reply. "Yes, Mr. frost?"

"What's a Helicarrier and why is everyone on it staring at me, why can they see me?"

Fury sighed, and his pace slowed to a leisurely walk. Jack matched his steps. "The Helicarrier is an aircraft carrier specifically designed to be itself capable of independent powered flight in addition to the standard functions of aircraft carriers, is the world headquarters and signature capital ship of our agency. It is where a vast majority of our agents work and reside. It can also be used a ship of some sort"

Fury paused. He seemed to be thinking through his next words. "There has been a rumour going around for some time now that a strange being with white hair who can fly had been found frozen in the ice next to.. Steve. I suppose they saw you and concluded that you fit the bill."

Jack nodded to himself. He supposed that was a possibility.

Fury watched the boy with wary eyes. Why was this kid so accepting of everything. He supposed that because the boy is in a strange place full of things he doesn't understand, and the fact that Fury is the only one with answers. Fury composed himself. "I would like to discuss this later, Frost, if you are willing. But for the moment, we have arrived at our destination. This is Steve's chambers. I will leave you two to catch up. Simply knock on the door three times, Steve will be expecting you."

And with that, he turned on his heel and walked off. Leaving a nervous Winter Spirit standing there in the hallway, debating whether or not he should knock on the door. Is he really ready to meet the first person who ever saw him? Maybe Steve could have answers for how to get other people to see him! Having an entire Helicarrier full of people who didn't walk right through him was nice, but Jack wanted others to see me him well. It'd be nice if the kids he played with in the snow actually saw Jack playing with them.

Jack Frost smiled at the thought. With renewed confidence, he straightened and knocked on the door, three times as Fury had directed. The door whooshed open, and Jack freaked out for a second. The hallway had been so quiet and the sudden noise had startled him. It startled Jack so much, in fact that he found himself high up, facing the door, sticking spider-like onto where the ceiling met the wall. Jack nervously laughed at himself. He really need to chill out. He was Jack Frost for god's sake!

He sheepishly floated down from the ceiling and walked across the hall, through the door and into a room. Looking around, Jack noticed that the room wasn't lavishly decorated as he had somehow thought it up to be. A curious white-haired boy noticed comfortable looking beige sofas facing towards a strange flat device with pictures flashing across the screen. He saw a small kitchen and 2 doorways that lead to other rooms. But the most noticeable thing Jack saw was a clearly frustrated man, who must be Steve, banging on a thin black device about as long as my hand.

"Stupid remote." Jack heard him mutter.

He didn't seem to notice that Jack was standing there. Fury said he was expecting him, but now he wasn't so sure. Jack shuffled on his feet nervously, and cleared his throat. For a big man, Steve could get to his feet pretty damn quickly. He took on a defensive stance, eyes slightly narrowed and staring in the direction of the intruder.

His face changed as soon as he recognised that it was only Jack, from confused to eager, to sheepish. "Oh, hey! You must be Jack Frost." He scratched the back of his head and looked at the ground. "I, ah, sorry about that. I'm not used to visitors."

Steve straightened, and composed himself. After a brief second of hesitation, he walked forward and offered his hand."I'm Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Golden Boy, I've heard it all."

Nervously, Jack took it, and the two made awkward eye contact. Jack decided to speak first. "So, you look pretty good for over 90 years old. Besides the clothes and everything you look exactly the same as when I first saw you."

"Likewise Jack, I'm a super soldier, genetically enhanced to be stronger, faster smarter and better. At least that's what they told me. All it ever got me was washboard abs and a frozen ass."

Jack grinned. He liked Steve already. Steve seemed to be the relatable kind of guy. And anyone who could relate to an immortal kid with ice powerss and severe amnesia, of all people, was a person worth getting to know.

Steve stood awkwardly, and he looked at Jack like like he was dying to ask him something. Jack grinned at him, sensing his discomfort, and said, "You probably have some questions for me, so ask away."

Steve looked relieved, and Jack's grin widened. "Why did you crash through my ship? How did you get there? How did you survive? I heard you woke up as soon as you were out of the ice! It took me weeks to wake up!"

Jack's grin turned into a smirk, this would be fun to explain. Steve seemed confident in himself at the moment, but he was sure Steve would falter a bit when he tell him all about Jack Frost. "Well Steve, I was flying around the arctic, minding my own business, I was even trying to be productive and planned on expanding the ice flats, but that horrid jet hit me head on and I crashed through your windscreen."

Jacks smirk faltered. His voice went quiet. His brain told him not to so open with people, like he was with Fury, but this was the first person who had ever seen him. It wasn't like Steve was anything like Fury, so Jack went on. "We crashed. It was so hard and so rough I thought we'd been thrown from the jet. There was water everywhere, and I panicked. It's.. It's my fault you were frozen. I panicked and froze all the water around us. But.. I couldn't unfreeze us, and I blacked out. I woke up as soon the someone broke the ice. Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm kind of immortal, so being frozen for that long really didn't matter too much."

Steve was obviously nothing like Fury. His mouth hung agape, his expression showed pure disbelief. Steve walked over and sat down on the sofa. He shook his head, straightening out his thoughts. "H-how. I d-dont..."

Alright, Jack thought. Time to set him straight. He sat down next to Steve and cringed when he leaned away from Jack a little. "Steve, I can control the wind and snow, ice and frost. That's probably the reason I didn't freeze to death or anything. It was actually kinda cozy in there."

Steve took a minute to process this. "Ca-Can I see?" He stuttered. Jack grinned. He was more that happy to show him what he could do! The boy thought for a moment, tapping his staff against his hands, and his grin broadened. A classic was always the best way to go. Standing up, Jack Frost lightly touched the tip of his decorated staff onto the sofa cushion. As expected, frosted spirals grew from where the staff made contact.

Jack thought it wasn't possible, but Steve's eyes got bigger. "So that's what it does" Jack heard him mutter. At that moment, The frost spirit felt so proud of himself. He had seen people gape in wonder in what he and created. But they never saw him. Never acknowledged him. Jack was always sitting there waiting, hoping, praying that they would turn their head and notice a white-haired boy in the tree, but they never did.

But now, now he had someone who saw me! Saw that I had created these beautiful patterns. He watched proudly as Steve lightly traced his finger over the frosted patterns. And for a brief moment, Jack was so happy, he could've bounced off of the walls a couple of times. But, being the incarnation of Winter, he kept his cool.

While Steve was occupied with cushion Frost, Jack rose into the air, and crouched on top the the strange flat device he'd noticed earlier. It was still playing various flashing pictures over and over again. Jack bent my head down to look at it. "What's this?" he asked.

Steve jumped, shattering the frost on the cushion. He looked at the shattered mess wide eyed, and looked really guilty. 'Ah, I'm really sorry about that."

"Dont be." I said

He shrugged and gave me a quizzical look. "How are you doing that?" He asked.

Jack grinned, flying off the device and onto the floor. "I use the wind for balance. I what helps me fly, it also helps me balance. I could balance on Fury's head if I was game enough."

Steve chuckled at this, and walked over to Jack. The two stood there for a second, before Jack said something that had been on his mind. "Hey, um Steve... I uh, I just wanted to say, I-I'm really sorry for what happened. You know with the ice... I didn't mean to freeze you or anything.. I was just so scared and -"

"Jack, you don't have to explain anything to me. Actually, you saved my life. If it wasn't for you I would've drowned or slowly froze to death. The ice froze both of us instantly, so we both survived."

Jack didn't know what to say. Did Steve just thank me him for freezing him in the ice for almost 70 years? He actually saved someone's life?

Jack had tried to save people before, when that huge boat sank, and all of those people were screaming, he had tried pulling them up to safety but his arm went right through them. All Jack could do was make so floating ice flats for them to hold onto. It didnt work. All he ended up doing was making the water colder. Jack had sat with lost mountain hikers and watched them slowly freeze to death right before my eyes, and all he could do was makee imprints in the snow so rescuers could find their bodies. But Jack had saved someone this time. He had done something right.

A voice echoed through the room and they both jumped. Jack hadn't heard what it had said but Steve's face faltered. He extended his hand towards the strange boy once more and Jack took it confidently, but still wary of the voice. "It's was good to finally meet you, Jack. You saved my life, and for that, I will always be grateful to you. And, well, it looks like your the first friend I've made since I've woken up."

Jack's face split into a delighted grin. He had never had a friend before. Well, a friend that wasn't the wind. "Same here!" Jack replied. Steve's face turned serious. Directory Fury is expecting you, he will be waiting at the door. "It really was good to meet you Steve! I gotta go now, so I'll um, see you later. Bye!"

Jack treaded through the living room and out the door, listening to Steve struggling with the long black thing again, and almost ran straight into Fury. "Jack Frost, how was your chat with Rogers?" He asked. Jack was confused for a second, before I remembered that Rogers was Steve's last name.

'It was actually pretty good. Steve's a relateabe guy."

"Frost, do you remember our conversation from earlier?" He asked.

Jack nodded my head. Since when had he started called him Frost, though?

"Good. I would like to ask you a few questions then."

"Fire away."

Fury started walking down the hall, and Jack followed.

"You have all of these powers, and by the sounds of it, you know how to use them. But have you ever tested your limits? Ever seen how far you can really push yourself? How powerful you really are?

Jack shook his head. He was always too busy either running away from his problems, or searching for answers.

"Have you ever been trained by anyone Mr. Frost?"

The boy shook my head again, my white curls falling into my eyes. "You were the first real person in the world to ever talk to me, and one of the first to ever actually see me. Why do you ask?

"I thought so. Mr. Frost, would you ever consider staying at on the Helicarrier for a while and training with is? We want to find out more about you, and what you can do. I promise you, if you stay and train with us, I will assign a top team of experts who will do everything in your power to help you."

Jack gasped. "Y-you mean, help me remember?"

Fury's face was calm. "That's exactly what I mean."

Jack knew he needed to think this through more. Here he was, surrounded by an entire aircraft full of people who called all can see him. That know he existed. He even had a friend here, someone's life who he had saved. Here was a man, offering Jack help discovering more about himself and about his powers. Fury was offering to train him, and all he get out of it was finding out more about Jack.

But what if Jack decided he didn't wan't to stay? Where would he go this time? Would he ever see Steve again? Jack seriously doubted that this was one of those things were he could just come back later. But what about his freedom? Would he be able to get out once in a while. Jack couldn't stand being trapped indoors for too long.

"Would I be able to leave and go flying?"

Fury seemed to consider this.

"As long as you discuss it with me first, and wear a tracking device at all times, I don't see what the problem is."

Jack's face broke into a grin. He made his choice, and offered his hand out. Fury shook it.

"You've got yourself a deal."

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><p><strong>AN - So, a little more backstory for Jack in this chapter. I would like to thank Auua Ytjoml, Kimori, Sora Mota, tksskm, Maximus Potter, chaos007, Winsofdreams, Shi Uzumaki-Namikaze, FanndisLokidottir, AnimeHuntress, Jesusfreak124, and Kazaru13 for following and reviewing! Special thanks to the people who reveiwed, I am new to this, so its strongly encouraged! If you spot a mistake, or think something can be improved, be sure to let me know! Jack's always been a mischevious person, and I want to add some humor to the story, and any suggestions are apprectiated. I've already got an idea for when Jack decides to explore the Helicarrier. **

**Brenne: Thank-you so much! You certainly just made my day! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Crossover Junkie - Thank-you for your reveiw! i didnt notice the whole 'I' thing, but re-reading it, its really obvious. I had already written this chapter, so please bear with me, it will be something I will most definateley improve in the next chapter!**

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Fury worked quickly. As soon as he had his answer he used his little radio to say something to people Jack honestly didn't care for at the moment. Right now, he was content, and didn't feel like talking or saying a damn thing, if you wanted to get something out of him, nice try, but you'd have better luck getting answers from his staff.

Jack was trying figure out what he would say to people if they asked who he was. _'His name's Jack Frost, he controls the ice and wind, stay out of his way_.' Yes, he thought a hard ass attitude will work quite nicely around here.

He also wanted to fit in, but he thought the whole social scene can wait awhile. Jack was used to being alone, used to being invisible, and hated when the people he passed ogled at him. Yeah, he'll stick to Steve and Fury for now.

Jack wondered what his training would be like? He has sat on top of the roofs of army building, watching as they soldiers performed various exercises as a man up front yelled at them. He could never stay long, all the yelling gave him a headache. Sometimes, Jack dropped by later in the day, and created a snowstorm for the tired soldiers, so their training would be cut off early. It was one of the times where he felt somewhat useful.

Would he be training with other people? Could he train with Steve? That'd be pretty cool. Jack knew that Steve's trained in the army, so Jack would be living in Steve's shadow if he trained with him. How would the Spirit's ice powers be used in training? He pondered on the thought until someone in front of him cleared their throat.

Jack looked up, plastering a bored expression to his face. Yep, the hard ass thing was starting now. He jumped a little when he realised it wasn't Fury, but a woman with brown hair pulled back into a bun and a no-nonsense poker face.

"Jack Frost? Come with me please, I'll show you to your chambers." She turned on her heel and strut down the hallway, expecting him to follow. _"Wow, I need to take notes if I want to be as hard ass as her."_ Jack thought. Sure, she was polite, but the boy knew immediately not to mess with her. Would all of the agents be like this?

Clearing his head, Jack realised that she was almost out of sight. He sprinted to catch up. Wow, she was fast. Looking around, Jack thought that he'd lost her when she turned the next corner, but took a leap of faith and decided that running wasn't going to cut it. So he jumped into the air and flew after her.

She looked over her shoulder at the quiet boy and a flash of surprise crossed her features before they solidified again. She knew he could fly, Fury had told her that much, but Maria Hill wasn't expecting to turn her head and see a scowling teenager flying after her. The starled woman turned her head turned forward once more. Jack Frost smirked, although the surprise he saw was brief, he thought it was hilarious he had startled her.

She stopped abruptly in the hall and Jack flew right past her. Scowling, he turned around and landed next to her. Jack noticed a smug smile tugging at her lips. His scowl deepened. "Mr. Frost, these are your chambers. Please press your thumb onto this."

She pointed at a small machine next to the door, which had a small black pad on it. Cautiosly, he stepped forward and pressed his thumb onto the device. He gave a small shout of surprise when the damn thing zapped him.

"Good." the woman said. She fiddled around with a small device by the door for a minute before turning towards me. "Mr. Frost, this will allow you to access your room. Just press your thumb on the scanner and the door will open. It recognises your thumbprint and opens the door. You will be alerted is there is anyone at the door. And don't worry, it won't zap you again." She said, a smirk now evident on her face.

"Will there be anything else?" She asked.

Jack narrowed my eyes. He got the feeling she was treating him like a child.

"No, thanks, I think I'll be fine."

Jack hadn't even finished his sentence before she turned and strutted off. Jack would have to watch out for her in the future. Sighing, he cautiously pressed his clammy thumb onto the device and was greatly relieved when the door whooshed open. Taking eager steps into his new living areas, Jack was awed the furnishings. _Everything_ was decorated in winter white and frosted blue.

The walls were a sparkling shade of white, that reminded him of freshly fallen snow, the two comfortable looking sofas were a vibrant blue, similar to that of frozen sea ice. The were set up just as Steve's were, with one facing the strange flat thing, and the other to the right of it, forming a 90 degree angle. The carpeted floor was white as, and there was a shaggy rug that matched the colour of the sofas. Jack wandered over to the pristine kitchen.

The benchtops was the same ice-blue as the sofas, but were semi-translucent, making them look like real ice. White cupboards lined up underneath them. Jack opened some of the cupboards to find them stocked with food he wouldn't eat. He really didn't eat much, but could eat a lot before getting full. Jack ate when he wanted to, not when I needed to. This food looked strange, and he made a mental note to ask Fury about it tomorrow. The setup was exactly the same as Steve's, just different colours.

Jack wandered through the two rooms, discovering a sparkling bathroom, and a bedroom, all perfectly matched with the colours in the living room. The bathroom was full of more confusing things Jack needed to ask about. The bedroom contained a King-sized bed, that was coloured ice-blue. The only thing it went with was the warbdrobe, which he thought really wasn't necessary. His hood and trousers had served him well for more than a century. The rest of the room was white.

There were a few strange machines, most of them residing in the kitchen. Why was he so uncomfortable? Everything was so nice, and well decorated, Jack felt so spoilt, but something was missing. He almost snapped his fingers when he realised what it was. It was hot in here! And Jack knew just what to do about it.

Flying back into the living room, he examined at the walls. Would Fury mind if he iced them up a bit? Jack decided that he was going to take a chance. Walking over to the far wall, he lightly touched his aged staff to it and frost climbed it's sides. Jack gave it a boost of energy to speed it up so he wasn't there for too long, and smiled in satisfaction. The wall looked like it was covered in some kind of bizarre wallpaper!

Grinning, the exuberent spirit went through all of his rooms, coating the walls in ice. It took only a few minutes, and when Jack was done he stepped back and admired what he had done, smiling proudly. It truly was a masterpiece. He just hoped Fury felt the same way. Jack sighed. He wasn't sure if he liked Fury or not. The man had been nothing but helpful, and Jack was sure that he had something to do with the colour scheme. But what if Jack had said no to his offer? What if he had wanted to get the hell out of there and take off? Would Fury had let him? Fury didn't seem like the kind of person who would do that. He was nice and all, but he seemed like the kind of person who had to know everything, be on top of everything. Jack shuddered at the thought. All that responsibility couldn't be good for a person.

There was a knock at the door. Three knocks, to be precise. Jack was startled. It too wasn't late, but it wasn't early either. Who could be knocking at his door? It must've been Fury. Jack flew over and landed into front of the door. He wasn't exactly sure how to open it for a few seconds, but was relieved to find a replica of the machine outside of my door sitting just to the left a little bit.

Jack pressed my thumb onto it, still wary of being zapped, and the door whooshed open. Fury stood there, his hands behind his back. "Frost," he said looking around the room, "I like what you've done with the place. Though a bit too cold for my liking. Not that I mind the ice, but I think I'll send someone over to explain all of the appliances you have, especially the air-conditioning. For now, I hope you've settled in. You need to get a good nights rest, because training starts tomorrow. Feel free to explore the Helicarrier, if you get lost, just shout. There is an agent at every corner who would be happy to help you find your way around. There is an alarm clock on your bedside table that will wake you up in time for breakfast tomorrow morning. Steve will be waiting outside your door to accompany you. There is also a variety training suits in your wardrobe. You are free to wear whatever you want, but this suit is exclusively for training. Be sure to be dressed and ready to start tomorrow. Do you have any questions?"

Jack was about to shake his head, but a thought sprang the his attention.

"What year is it?" He questioned

Fury looked vauguely surprised at his question, but recovered quickly. "It's 2012."

Jack was stunned by Fury's answer. He had presumed it to be 2016 at least. If it was 2012... that-that means..

"What season is it?" Jack pressed urgently.

"Autumn."

Jack gasped. He-he woke up in in the middle of _Winter_ in Burgess 300 years ago. Well, a little _less_ that 300 years ago. This means he'd be awake for his 300th birthday! Jack was ecstatic. He never celebrated birthdays very much, but turning 300 was something to be excited about.

Fury saw excitement and confusion flash across the boy's features. He decided not to question it. Seeing that the conversation was done, Fury decided he had other things to do.

"That's all. Good night, Mr. Frost." With that, he turned to his right and left, his black trench coat flapping behind him.

Besides his upcoming birthday, Jack was intrigued about what Fury said about exploring, but scowled at the thought of getting lost. Jack will find his own way back, even if he did get lost. He didn't want another snooty agent disapproving and talking to him like he was some kind of kid. He huffed, and walked out the door.

Deep in thought, Jack wandered down the hallways, leaving minuscule patches of frost on the wall, so he was able to find my way back. There wasn't much to see, unless he actually went into the rooms. Jack heard a small explosion once and jumped so high he almost hit his head on the roof. There was a lot of shouting before it went quiet again.

Turning down another hallway, Jack noticed a strong wind current. He felt the wind tug on his hood and ruffle his snowy hair. Where was it coming from? Jack looked around, confused until he noticed a hole in the wall with a metal hatch covering it.

He decided that he needed to check it out. The hatch wasn't easy to remove, but after 10 minutes of persistence, and a strange look from a passing agent, Jack managed to pry it open. It wasn't big enough to stand upright in, but had was spacious enough that he could comfortably call through on his hands and knees, and carry his staff. there was more than enough room above his head to look up, and plenty of room on either side of me to stretch my arms out.

This route was much more interesting. The grates showed into the rooms, and Jack was excited to finally see what everybody was doing behind those damn doors. Most of the rooms were full of strange equipment, and people in white coats. He passed the room where the explosion must've went off. It was like the other rooms, except there was glass all over the floor and smoke wisping from the spot it must've exploded from. Jack sniggered at the sight of a tiny woman yelling at cowering men, who looked like kids who have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The times had changed, and Jack liked it.

The curious spirit continued his crawl through the metal tunnels, stopping occasionally to observe something interesting. He even saw Steve, in a space filled with more things Jack didn't understand. Steve was hitting something over and over again, and by the sheen of sweat covering his forehead, he looked like he had been at it a while. Jack wanted to talk to him, but thought it'd be kinda weird if he stuck out of a hatch in the wall to say hello. So he ventured on, when Jack saw something that made him come to a complete stop.

There was something else in here with him. Jack saw it crawling through the tunnel ahead of him, coming straight forward. Jack began backing up. It had definitely seen him now, and it didn't look friendly. It looked like another person, but the frightened boy couldn't be sure. Jack was still backing up, faster now. He saw the grate where Steve's room was, and made a choice. He needed to get out of here, and quickly before the thing got any closer. Turning his body 90 degrees, Jack placed his feet on the hatch and kicked with all the force he could muster. The thing got closer. It was probably only about 30 feet away now. Jack kicked again, desperate to get the hell out of there, and realised that Steve had come over to investigate the noise.

He peered into the hatch. "Jack?" He asked incredulously.

The thing was closing in. It was definitely a person, but he didn't look too happy. "Steve! Get the hatch off! NOW!" Steve heard the desperation and terror mixed in with Jack's demand and worked quickly.

The thing was only 15 feet away now. Luckily, Steve was a hell of a lot stronger than the average human. He ripped the hatched out of the wall and Jack hastily slid out, pulling his staff through as he went. As soon as he was in open air, Jack flew up, crouching in the corner of the the roof. It wasn't long before the thing burst out after him. So, it was a person after all. It was a man, and he looked pissed. He didn't tumble out, like Jack had expected, but slid out smoothly, head first, and performed a small roll before jumping to his feet.

"Where's the kid, Roger's."

It wasn't a question, more so a demand.

Steve was obviously confused. The dazed expression on his face gave it away. Luckily though, he recovered just in time to answer. And his answer made Jack smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Clint."

Clint rolled his eyes and took a step forward. "Don-" he was cut off when he slipped on an anonymous patch of ice. Whoops! How'd that get there?

Clint let out a small cry as he fell on his ass. Steve's eyes widened at Clint's sudden actions, before he noticed the patch of ice and doubled over with laughter as he made the connection, slapping his knee. I grinned, but it when Clint hastily jumped to his feet, a scowl evident on his face.

"You think this is funny Frost-boy? I know all about you! What I want to know, is why the hell you were in my air vents."

Jack flew down, standing his staff upright, and perched on top of it. "Air vents? Is that what they're called?" he asked innocently.

Clint whipped his head in Jack's direction. His scowl deepened when he noticed that Jack Frost was a kid in blue performing a balancing act on his little stick.

"You know, being all big and scary and chasing someone through an air-vent isn't the best way to introduce yourself."

Clint's scowl lessened, and he looked somewhat apologetic.

"You were in my vents kid, it's not everyday that I find visitors in there. Let alone an immortal being that can fly, freeze things and apparently has perfect balance." He said dryly. "We're you lost or something?"

"No! I wasn't lost." Jack said defensively. "I was just looking around. I have my reasons for being in there, but what was a grown man, like your self, doing crawling through air vents?"

"I'm a master spy kid, it's what I do. I find that crawling through the vents is a perfect way to see what happening around me without being noticed. Nothing happens around here without me knowing about it." He took a step forward and stuck his hand out in front of him. "Clint Barton, Master spy, and I forgot to mention, Master Assassin. Pleasure meeting you."

Jack took his hand warily. "Jack Frost, uh, Immortal bringer of Winter." Jack had been working on his intro for a while and was proud that he could finally use it.

"Immortal bringer of Winter eh? I think it needs some work, but keep trying. I gotta go, I have somewhere to be, but if your gonna crawl through the vents again, try to stay out of my way? Ok?" And with that, he turned and left. Jack narrowed his icy blue eyes. He didn't think that he would get along well with this guy. Clint seemed to be sending Jack a silent challenge when he spoke, and If there's one thing Jack know about himself, it's that he's stubborn to the final degree, and won't back down from a challenge.

Jack wanted to go back to his room. He's been tired ever since he woke up, so he thought it was about time for one of his rare sleeping sessions. Though Jack stayed and chatted with Steve for a bit, they both said goodnight and went their separate ways. Thanks to Jack's frost marks, or rather, puddles in the floor, he made his way back to his room without complication.

He noticed that the room was much colder, and a large long white thing mounted on top of the wall above the flat device was humming and blowing cold air through the air. It was fantastic. Jack wanted to look at his training uniforms before he went to bed, but was way too tired. Flopping down onto the mattress of the soft bed, Jack let his eyes drift shut, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - I KNOW! I CHANGED IT TO 3RD PERSON. *hides behind keyboard* I am so sorry to those who might not enjoy the change, but 1st person just wasn't working for the story. I'm not that good of a writer to use it effectively. At least this way you get to hear from more people points of view, right? I also changed a few key elements of the story. Re-read chapter 2 and you'll find an account from Fury, and if you look closely at chapter 3, you'll notice Jack had the hard-ass attitude to begin with. He DOES NOT, reapeat, DOES NOT open up, to Fury, only telling him the basics. I am so sorry for all these changes. I promise that I'll get the story on track and stop changing everything so much! **

**I would like to thank the people who reviewed, giving an extra huge, from the bottom of my heart thank you to Auua Ytjoml for providing me with amazing ideas and criticism. I'd honeslty be lost without them! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I sure enjoyed writing it! Did you like Clint and Jack's meeting? (btw, the story is set before the whole Loki claims the Tesseract and takes control of Clint kind of thing) I think you'll see more of Jack's and Clint's friendly rivalry! I've got big plans for this story, so hold tight, bear with me and review! Please review! I love hearing all your ideas and comments for the story! Let me know how I can improve!**


	5. Chapter 5

Jack Frost lay clutching his staff, face-down in the soft, cold mattress, enjoying himself within the recesses of his dream. He was actually enjoying his sleep until a freezing bucket of cold water was poured directly onto his bed head. Not that Jack minded the temperature of the water, it was more the surprise of being wet that really bothered him.

Jack flew from the soaked mattress, flying up to the ceiling, pulling half of the blanket with him as he went. Jack held his staff out in front of his body, ready to defend himself. A very smug Clint Barton stood with his head tilted upwards, smirking at a frantic Jack from his position on the ground.

Jack was mad, to say the least. Before Agent Barton could blink, Jack swung his staff towards Clint, sending out a wave of ice. Clint had ducked, thinking that Jack was actually going to hit him with that staff. He didn't hear anything though, didn't hear the whoosh of the staff missing it's target above his head. What he did head was the sound of laughter. He also felt cold, Really cold.

Clint tried to stand up but found he was physically unable. Shocked, Clint could only gape at what he saw. His entire lower half was frozen into a crouch position. Not frozen as in paralysed, he was literally frozen. In ice.

Steve chose that moment to run into the room, confused and wary, not at all aware of what he just happened. Though, upon seeing a laughing Jack and a wild-eyed Clint, he couldn't help but laugh. The soldier had never seen the master assassin so vulnerable before! "Clint!" He gasped through his laughter, "You haven't been having much luck with ice these past few days!"

Jack, feeling daring, landed on top of Clint's head, as Clint violently swat at his with his arms, the only two limbs that were free from the icy grip. Jack bent his head down and grinned at the scowling assassin. "Next time you walk into my room uninvited, I'll freeze you to the outside of the Helicarrier."

Jack jumped off of Clint's head and strutted over to Steve. "Very funny Jack Frost, now unfreeze me."

Jack's grin only broadened. "I can't do that. I can freeze things, not unfreeze them."

"Well that's pretty pathetic." Clint spat. "I thought you could control ice, and doesn't controlling ice men melting it as well?"

"How da-" Jack's was cut off.

"I'll do it." Steve offered half-heartedly.

Clint only scowled. The ice was already beginning to crack from around his waist due to his frantic struggling, and the majority of Jacks ice was soon removed with Steve's assistance. Clint kicked the rest of the ice that was clinging to his boot off, muttering to himself.

"Well played, Frost. I'll see you in training." Clint smirked. "Be ready to get your ass kicked." Clint stomped out of the room. When Jack heard the door whoosh closed, he turned to Steve.

"Do you know what the hell just happened, Steve?" Jack asked incredulously.

Steve looked rather embarrassed.

"Well, uh, this whole thing is kinda my fault."

Jack quirked an eyebrow at the soldiers admission. How could Steve have played in part whatsoever in this?

"How so?" Jack questioned.

Steve looked at his feet, embarrassment clear in his body language. "Well, ah, I was waiting in my room, still trying to figure out how to work the Television, and I got sick of it. So I went to see what you were up to. I knocked on the door and was waiting for an answer when Clint came past."

Jack nodded at for Steve to go on, although he was still utterly confused as to where the story was going.

"Clint thought that you were late so he went in there with a bucket to go and get you. I guess his wake up methods weren't exactly, ah, conventional."

Jack nodded as he finally understood Steve's story.

"So, this things is one part a misunderstanding, and two parts Clint being an ass?"

Steve grinned. "Yep, you've got it. I am really sorry though." The captain did look really guilty.

"You don't have to apologise, Steve. Oh, and what's a television, by the way?"

"It's that thing you were standing on in my room."

"The flat thing with the pictures on it?"

"Yeah, they show you what's going on in the world, and heaps of other things people find interesting. We had them back in the day, but they were black and white, and different shapes too. Now they have all these things that you need to work it, and it's just not worth the effort."

Jack pondered over the idea of a thing that shows you recorded events of what happens in the world. How did these things get on there in the first place? It was a confusing concept Jack really didn't want to think too much about. His brain hurt already.

"Things are so different now! I never had trouble keeping up with what people around the world were doing before, but this is going to a... different kind of experience. I guess being out of action for so long will do that to you, eh?" Jack said to a nodding Captain. Steve knew exactly where his friend was coming from. It was good to have someone to relate to.

A blaring sound made the two nearly jump out of their skin. Jack was already in the air, staff raised towards the directing the offender was sounding from. He was confused as to why the White device beside his bed was making that obnoxious beeping noise, but quickly realised it was his alarm.

Jack landed softly on the ground with a sheepish expression. "I guess it's time for me to get ready." Jack sighed. Steve nodded, and turned around to walk out the door, closing the door behind him. Whistling to himself, Jack strolled over to his wardrobe. He was in a good mood, despite his rude awakening.

Apparently Fury had been joking when he said there was a variety of suits. There were four black suits that looked to be made from leather. They had long sleeves, and long legs, and looked very tight. They also had a choking neckline. All in all, it looked like Jack would seriously consider taking a knife to them and tearing it up. But, Jack had made a deal, and if Fury had told him to wear these for training, it was probably for a reason.

Jack looked down at his beloved hoodie. He had only acquired that a short time before he had been frozen. He remembered flying over a running track, watching as the people tried to outrun each other before they reached the finish line. After a tense couple of minutes, an over enthusiastic man came first, howling at his victory. Jack followed him to see why everybody was crowded around the man, when the winner took his hood off and dumped it on the ground before covering himself in water. Jack had been admiring it for a while, and was disgusted it was being treated so badly. So, he took it. He felt a little guilty afterwards, but when he discovered the freedom and comfortability of the clothing, his guilt was forgotten. Not soon after, he had learned it was called a hood shirt. He called it hood for short.

With a sigh, Jack stripped down to the bare essentials, making sure to take special care laying his old appearance out on the messy bed. The suit was tricky to get into. The leather kept sticking to his skin, and Jack ended up having to apply a thin layer of ice over his body so he could easily slip into it.

After finishing is struggle, Jack donned the heavy boots and fingerless gloves with little complication. The suit was surprisingly comfortable. Jack didn't even feel where the fabric settled against his neck! The only thing he didn't like was the colour. It was all black, and black had never been a colour Jack had been too fond of. Black was the colour of darkness, and darkness had always been Jack's weak point.

He had often raced to the other side of the world, keeping up with the sun. Shortly before he had been frozen though, Jack had stayed back a while to talk with the moon. Not that it ever talked back of course, but Jack had been desperate for answers. Lately he had been questioning himself, and everything he did. Would he ever get it right? What if he was never seen by anything. Was he destined to roam the earth as a ghost for the rest of his life? It had been dark days for Jack.

Clearing his thoughts, Jack decided he would talk to Fury about the colour when he got the chance.

Steve waited patiently in the living room for Jack to get ready. He could hear the poor kid struggling with the suit,and cringed internally, Not that he'd ever admit it, but his first time in the Captain America suit was achieved by hard work, sheer perseverance, and maybe a little help. It wasn't a fun day for Steve Rogers.

A few minutes after the struggling noises stopped, Jack shuffled out of the room. He was walking awkwardly in the boots, and seemed to be having trouble keeping his balance. Steve raised and eyebrow at the poor kid, silent asking for an explanation.

"I've never worn shoes before." Jack muttered, his face turning beet red as he sat down on the sofa and fiddled with the laces.

Steve cringed at the kid. His day hadn't started well and it only seemed to be getting worse.

"Do you need help?" Steve offered

Jack didn't say anything, but he nodded his head, his damp hair flopping to the side.

Steve knelt down and started untangling the laces of the SHIELD issued boots. Jack refused to look at Steve, his pale face flushed an embarrassed shade of red. Steve tried to break the silence by asking that if Jack had never worn shoes before, how did he know to put them on?

"I've watched people do it. It's how I learned to do a lot of things, by watching people." Steve nodded. He couldn't exactly relate to Jack, but he understood.

With one final pull, and a grimace from Jack, Steve finished tying Jack's laces on his boots, and stood up. Jack stood up, quickly, his face still red from the incident. Steve felt really bad for the kid, so he tried to say something that would Cher him up.

"I, uh, see you got you uniform on. I've never tried one of the SHIELD suits on, but I know that my Captain America suit was never easy. The first couple of time, I actually needed, ah, assistance. So don't feel bad about your shoes, if you want, I'll teach you how to tie the laces yourself."

Jack looked up and a timid smile came to his face. "Yeah, that'd be great, uh, thanks for... You know.."

Steve nodded and checked his watch. "Well, we're both ready, so let's go and get breakfast."

Jack and Steve walked out the the door. Well, Jack floated out. He still found it hard to walk with the boots on. Although he was embarrassed, he was grateful it was Steve that helped him out. The Winter boy cringed at the thought of having to ask Fury for help. He had no idea how that would go down.

So golden soldier and Winter spirit walked and floated down the winding hallways of the Helicarrier, idly chatting to each other. Jack was telling some stories of his adventures around the world, at Steve's request. Jack was still reluctant to tell Steve about his lonesome past, but enjoyed telling him of his travels.

Jack told him of how he had saved a lost child from a mountain cat, by freezing it solid in the middle of the forest. The little girl was terrified, and Jack watched over her until she found her way back to her distraught parents, who cried and hugged her through her wild rebelling of her story.

Another thing Jack told Steve was his newly discovered upcoming birthday. Steve was confused at first, but Jack explained that he had the year wrong when he made age his estimate, and that he woke up in the in the middle of Winter in 1712.

"How far into fall are we?

"Uh, it's October, so it's late. And if you, ah, woke up in the middle of Winter, that means you turn 300 on the 16th of December!" Steve answered.

Jack was awestruck. Once again, Steve had done something to help him, and didn't ask anything in return.

"I-I've never known the actual date of my birthday before. I just kinda stayed in Burgess for a few days and celebrated when it was the coldest day of Winter. Which isn't accurate, I know, but it's the only measurement of date I really had. I always somehow managed to keep track of the year, though. Th-Thank-you"

Steve looked shocked for a moment, but his face soon melted into a happy smile. "No problem Jack, I'm always here if you need help. Just ask, ok? Now let's get to breakfast so Fury doesn't bust our asses for being late."

Jack grinned. He had never had a real friend before, but he was sure glad he had someone as kind and as relatable as the soldier. The pair must've been getting close to the breakfast room, because they could hear the muffled noise of chatter and scraping chairs.

Soon Jack and Steve arrived at their destination, and walked through the doors. The once noisy and boisterous room went silent. There wasn't a word spoken, a chair scraped or a plate clanged as all heads turned to Jack Frost. He noticed that he was wearing the same uniform as everyone else. Jack stood pinned to the spot and unable to move. Most of the stares were curious, or wary, but Jack did see a few harsh, judgemental looks being thrown his way.

Steve spoke up. "There's nothing to see here, everybody, back to your meals!"

The angry volume of Steve's voice made Jack jump. Steve didn't seem like the kind of person to yell, and Jack,wasn't sure he would ever get used to it.

A majority of the people in the room whipped their heads back around, seeming to find great interest in the food on their plates. Some of the more daring ones let their stare linger, before deciding to stuff their faces once more.

Steve held his head high as he walked around the tables and over to the buffet. He stayed close to him, trying to draw as little attention as possible, though he could feel them staring again. He kept his head down, just wanting to get it over with and get out of there. At the buffet, Steve piled his place high with bacon, scrambled eggs, fruit and anything else he could get his hands on. Jack didn't really need to eat, so he grabbed a crisp green apple when Steve was done and followed him to an empty table.

They settled down in table at the very back of the room, and Steve eyebrows shot up closer to his hairline when he took notice of Jack's small portioned breakfast. "Jack, you'll need to eat properly if you want to make it through training." Steve suggested.

Jack gave Steve a deadpan look.

"The last time I ate a proper meal was 84 years ago, and I feel fine. As long as I'm in the cold, I'm comfortable and healthy."

The boy knew Steve didn't understand, it was written all over his. He didn't expect him too though. How could someone understand that Jack simply doesn't eat?

Steve looked as though he wanted to ask someone questions, but politely kept his calm, instead choosing to shovel his mouth with food.

All in all, breakfast went ok. Jack finished his apple , choosing refrain from throwing at it one of the agents who couldn't seem to stop staring. Jack waiting patiently for Steve to finish, entertaining himself by twirling his staff, icing the other half of the table, and refreezing the melting ice underneath his suit.

It was getting hot inside the suit, so Jack found himself having to freeze the ice every 10 minutes. It wasn't hard, and Jack was beginning to do it unconsciously. When Jack did it the first time, Steve asked what the noise was, and Jack told him that it helped him get into the suit and helped him keep cool. Steve scoffed at this, saying he wishes he had that kind thing to help him out.

When Steve had gotten up and packed his dishes away, the duo walked out of the lunchroom and through the halls once more. Once they were out, Jack took to the air again, relieved he didn't have to walk. "I thought there would be more agents than that in the lunchroom." Jack commented. "I'm sure I saw more people than than when I crawled through the vents."

Steve laughed outright. "That was only one lunchroom, Jack. All in all, there are 17 on the Helicarrier. I picked the one I knew would have the least amount of people in it. You're the talk of the ship, you know. Everyone wanted to see who else woke up in the ice."

Jack grinned Steve's careful thinking. How did he know that Jack didn't like the attention? It felt really good to have a friend that helped him out, even if it was somewhat indirectly.

"So, Jack, are you ready for your first day of training?"

"You mean ready to get my ass kicked? Yeah, bring it on." Jack said dryly. He really couldn't feel optimistic when he was going to be versing a master assassin on his first day in SHIELD training.

Steve frowned at Jack's lack of enthusiasm. When they chatted in the gym, Jack's eyes had lit up at the idea. Now, as he floated down the hallway, he just looking like he want to be somewhere else.

Fury was waiting for them at the door. "Gentlemen, I assume you had a good breakfast? How was your first night, Jack?"

"Fine and dandy, the morning wasn't very appealing though. Could you keep the fire-brigade out of my room next time, please?"

Fury smirked. "I have advised Clint to stay away from your chambers. Follow me."

The three of them walked through the doors, which just looked like a bigger version of Jack's door. Jack was impressed to say the least. The room was huge, and it made Jack wonder just how big the Helicarrier was. Looking up, Jack could see an agent situated in a glass box, high above them.

"Jack Frost. I'm not going to dilly-dally, so I'll tell it to you straight. We have never done this sort of thing before. This program that we will train you in, is experimental. It is designed for younger trainees, and you are our first to test it out. We guarantee that you are safe in here, although you will be put through life-like training situations in order to push your abilities and strengthen your fighting strategies. You will train with other agents along and are expected to only attack when you are sparring. If you decide to hold a grudge, because you got your ass kicked, there will be severe consequences. Do you understand what I have just said?"

Jack gulped, and slowly nodded. He didn't mind that it was experimental, as long he was able to learn how to defend himself. Jack had a feeling that his powers weren't going to cut it anymore. Steve had wandered off midway through Fury's speech, so Jack stood alone. Not that he minded, of course. He knew Steve had other things to do.

"Good. Frost, I would like you to meet agent Phil Coulson. He will be overseeing your training."

A tall man, seemingly stepped and of nowhere and walked forward to shake Jack's hand. "It's good to finally meet you, Jack Frost! We will have to talk later, I want to know some more details about you, if that's alright with you?"

Jack just nodded.

"Good. Now, before we can begin, Fury has informed me of your abilities. Would you mind showing me an example of each of them?"

"Uh, yeah, that shouldn't be a problem." Jack said nervously.

"Ok, fly." Phil demanded. Jack blinked, a little taken aback, but soon rose into the air. Coulson walked around Jack, observing him.

"What does that do?" Coulson asked, pointing at Jack's staff.

"It uh, helps me fly, make frost and snow, and blast ice."

"I see. What can you do without it?"

"I can still make frost and a light snow, and hover, but that's about it. I can't create blizzards or fly very far without it."

"May I see it?" Coulson asked.

Jack landed back on the ground and hesitated. He had only just met this man, and really didn't want him to put his hands all over his staff. Jack wasn't even sure if he could hand it over to Steve, no matter how much he like him.

"Jack," a deep voice sounded. "Just do it, and he'll give it straight back. Nothing will happen to it." Fury reassured.

Reluctantly, Jack handed it over. Coulson took it and handled it delicately, inspecting all the twists and lines of the wood, and the light dusting of frost along its length. He tapped it against his hand, and handed it back to Jack. Jack refrained from snatching it off of him.

"Thanks Jack, I can see your attached to it. I would be too if I had something that cool!" Jack smiled, this man was trying to be friendly, and Jack really appreciated it.

Ok, now show me how you use your Frost power,"

Jack tapped the curved end of the wooden staff down onto the floor, and let the frost patterns spread along the ground. He stopped when they began to climb over Coulson's shoe.

"That's amazing! Could you possibly show me something bigger?"

Jack thought for a moment, and swung his staff to the left. Huge shards of ice longer longer than Jack and thicker than Steve's forearm formed under his swing, the deadly sharp points facing towards the left wall of the training room. There were about six of them in total. Coulson's mouth seemed to be hanging from it's hinges before he quickly composed himself and nodded.

"That was much better, beautiful and deadly all at the same time.

"Now-"

"Why do I need to do this?" Jack cut in

"We want to see what you can do, so we can plan ways to incorporate your powers into your upcoming training.

Jack 'ahh'd' at this. That was actually a very good idea.

"Ok, then, what next?"

Coulson grinned. "Well, you said that you control the wind and ice. We've already seen the ice, so let's see the wind!"

Jack was confused. When he said he controlled the wind he meant he used it to fly. But, what if he could use it for other things as well? Jack had never tried it before, but Fury had said training was about testing his limits, so he supposed he'd try.

Jack called the wind to him, and he rose into the air. But he could sense something in the wind. It was eager to please. Gusts of wind started whipping around Jack, teasing his hair. Jack focused his mind, calling the wind to all sides of him, willing it to spin around and around. Jack opened his eyes when someone shouted his name.

He saw Coulson and Fury scrambling about, trying to hold on to something as the wind attempted to lift the, off of his feet. 'Ok, time to stop,' Jack thought. The wind slowed but it didn't stop. Jack panicked and yelled this time. "STOP!"

The wind slowed down to a gentle breeze. An annoyed fury and a flustered Coulson stared at him as Jack lowered himself to the ground. "I'm really sorry about that, I've never actually done it before."

Fury recovered first. "What do you mean, Frost?."

"I told you I control the wind, but I meant I used it to fly. But I, uh, tried something different this time. I've never even thought of physically controlling the wind to do something like that."

Fury sighed. "Continue on, Coulson."

Shakily, Coulson walked over to Jack. "Please don't do that while we're in the room, Mr. Frost."

Jack nodded.

"Good. Is there anything else you haven't showed us?"

Jack was about to shake his head, but he remembered something. What about that strange new thing he had done when he blew on the snow. Suddenly, Jack got the urge to want to try it out again.

"Yes! I do have something else, but I'll need a volunteer. I promise it won't hurt them or anything, I just can't show you without someone else."

Both of the men hesitated. They did not want to do it. Coulson reached for his radio and muttered something into it. A few moments later, Clint walked into the room. Jack couldn't help but grin. Oh, yes, this would be perfect.

"You called for me?" Clint asked

"Yes," Coulson said. "Jack here needs someone to, uh, assist him with something. You fit the bill."

The archer hesitated for a second, before he strolled over to Jack, eyeing the shards of ice. "What do you need, Jacky Boy?" Clint asked, a cocky tone to his voice.

Jack took a few steps back. Both Coulson and Fury exchanged a worried look when they noticed something form in Jack's hand. Fury had his hand on his gun. Jack brought the snowball to his lips, and blew. It turned a bright blue, and almost glowed in his palm. Without warning, Jack pelted the snowball right at Clint's awaiting face.

"What the hell?!" Clint shouted, before his facial expression changed.

He let out a small laugh, but appeared to be trying to hold it back. He laughed again, but this time, it was full and rich. Grinning at what he had done, Jack took to the air, and the archer began to take chase. Jack created little piles of snow around the room, and Clint happily started throwing snowballs at the fun loving spirit. Jack threw them back, thoroughly enjoying himself. Clint aim was dead on, and only missed when Jack spontaneously leaped to the side, laughing as he went,

Fury and Coulson watched on with wide eyes, as this kid turned one of their best assassins into a 6 year old kid. They watched as Hawkeyes jumped and threw snowballs, and chased Jack around the room. Clint seemed to wear himself out after a few minutes, and sat down. Jack had doubled over in laughter, tears leaking out of his eyes. He was on his back, howling at what he had just seen.

Fury heard Coulson stifling giggles. This was unbelievable. Just who was this kid? Whatever he had just done, both of the men were extremely glad they hadn't volunteered.

Clint seemed to recover from his playtime, and he must've remembered what happened, because he stormed out of the room, unable to say a word, or account for his actions.

After the incident, Coulson calmed down a hysterical Jack and sat him down to go over some basic training manoeuvres. They tried some of them together but Jack kept stumbling all over the place. He asked Coulson if he could take his boots off, and Coulson agreed, because Jack didn't look very comfortable in them.

It did wonders for Jack's speed and agility, Coulson had to work hard just to even touch the kid. He had been trained by SHIELD for years, and was one of their top agents. They day wore on, and it turns out that although Jack was good, it took him a while to learn certain things. His offensive attacks were something that needed practice. He was great at defending himself, t couldn't seem to lay a finger on Coulson.

"We're done for the day, come back *puff* tommorrow so we can *puff* improve your offensive attacks."

Coulson walked away, leaving Jack alone with Fury and a question he'd been dying to ask all day.

"Fury, can I go flying?"

"I was prepared for this. Here, place this around your wrist, and don't take it off." Fury instructed as he placed a silver cuff on Jack's wrist.

"What's this?" Jack questioned.

"It's a tracking device, so we can know where you are at all times."

Jack wanted to argue, but he had agreed to it, and it didn't really matter, it wasn't like he was trying to run away or anything. "Come with me, I'll show you where you can leave. You're lucky, the Helicarrier isn't actually flying at the moment, it is floating, to be precise."

Jack nodded. He remembered something about the Helicarrier also being used as a ship.

The two walked for sometime in silence, Jack still barefoot and much more comfortable.

They walked out onto an absolutely nothing huge deck, it was so big, in fact, that there were planes and other strange machined coming and going from it.

"I know that you don't need the sleep, so if you want to stay out, be back at sunrise tomorrow, at the latest."

Jack grinned at him before he took to the sky.

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><p><strong>AN Hey guys I know this is a bite later than usual but it is over 5000 words, so I hope that makes up for it. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, (I promised I will fix those mistakes) Please review, tell me where I've gone wrong, what I've done right, if you like the relationship between characters, what you want to see, make sure to tell me! **


	6. Chapter 6

He left soldiers, and training and responsibility behind him. He left his grudges and thoughts alone for a while, for the Winter Spirit was free once more. And boy, was he loving it. Nothing could compare to the crisp pre-winter wind tugging on his white-curls, begging him to play.

Jack couldn't refuse. He frolicked and jumped and laughed with the wind. He created little snow flurries around the place, and he explored the world. The world was so much more dirge rent than he remembered. There were strange looking cars everywhere, huge towering buildings made of glass and steel, and people everywhere. There were so many people!

Jack flew around the busy city having a blast. There was a short a moment where a figure blurred in red and blue swung past him. Jack thought it was strange, considering how high up among the towers he was, but blamed it on the thriving nightlife of the spontaneous city. It was a mad-house! There were just so many things going on, so much activity!

But after a few hours of fun, Mack thought of somewhere he had to be. No, needed to be. A place he hadn't visited in over visited in almost 70 years, and the only place he ever dared to call home.

It was so different now. His frozen lake was only half-frozen (which honestly, Jack had expected) and there were houses not a short distance away.. He saw children running around, waving sticks made of light and shouting out playful insults at each other. Why were they up so late? There were papers loitering in the grass, and a substantial lack of wildlife. Half of the ancient pine trees have been felled, and in their place were sad looking stumps. Everything Jack remembered was tainted.

He could've conjuring up a storm to stop the loggers, picked up the papers before it got out of hand, and kept the place healthy, and alive. The wind told him that this place was dying. It was tainted and feral, and he should've been there to take care of the only place he ever called home. Jack sighed miserably. Everything he ever knew was gone.

The White-haired spirit floated took one last look at the semi-frozen pond, only to see a small kid sitting by its shore. At first, Jack was angry. Why the hell was this kid here? Was he one of the ones that poisoned his home?

Jack flew in to investigate, only to see that the kid was peacefully reading a book by torchlight. Why wasn't he playing with the other kids? Was he alone? Jack decided that he must find out. He came up close to the young boy, who was scanning the pages with huge eyes filled with a child-like innocence.

The book was about mythical creatures, yetis, dwarves, fairies, Bigfoot, you name it, it was in there. The kid held a light to the pages of the book, hastily turning them when he was done. Jack chuckled at his antics, and watched the boy until he decided to pack up and go home. The spirit watched as the child picked up a few of the papers as he went, depositing them in a nearby trash in. Jack smiled happily. He would visit again, that was certain, but Jack felt safe in the knowledge that there was someone protecting his home, even if it was just a kid.

Jack Frost took to the sky, shouting at the wind to take him to a special place. It was magical and full of wonder, and it was a place Jack had been dying to visit ever since he got chased away so long ago.

The wind dropped him off exactly where he wanted to be. Not too far away, but not close either. Jack wanted to get a good look at the outside North's workshop before he found a way to sneak inside. Trying to be stealthy, he flew silently up to one of the windows. It was locked, of course. North is known for his carefulness and precision.

There was movement to his right, on what looked to be a small man-hole. The lid of it lifted, and a belled hat poked through, and soon one of the dimwitted elves popped the rest of itself through the opening. Jack was confused as to what it was doing, until it began to lick the not-so-freshly-fallen snow. Jack grimaced at the sight. Sure, he knew these things were as dumb as a post, but that was just disgusting.

Soon, the little thing scuttled off, jumping into another manhole a few yards away. Jack sat by it for a second, weighing up his options. Right now, if he was caught, he could escape with ease, flying away on the wind. But if he decided to squeeze in to one of the elf tunnels, he would have nowhere to go if he got into trouble. But, Jack's curiosity of the fabled workshop got the better of him, and he decided to take the risk.

Getting into the small hole was hard, but Jack was lean enough to be able to pull it off. Once he got in, it was fairly easy. There was enough room to crouch low on his hands and knees, with the tops of his thighs touching his chest as he moved through the winding tunnels. He saw a few interesting things, like bits of week-old cookies, broken plastic toys, and rusted old bells. All of which hurt when one got under his knee as he crawled.

After 10 minutes of painful crawling, the narrow space opened up into a small cavern which Jack could almost stand up in. At the moment, Jack had no concept of what was up or down, so he was confused and a just little bit dizzy.

Jack stood up, hit his head. What was it with him and his head? He grunted and focused himself. Where was he? The spirit stared into the dimly lit cavern, and saw a bright light up ahead. Relieved, he walked towards it, his hands on top of his head to keep it from hitting the ceiling again.

After a minute of walking, he arrived at the light, which was just a bigger version of the man-hole outside. Jack approached cautiously, and gingerly pushed the lid up. He was lucky that it was so light otherwise anyone outside would definitely of have heard him when he dropped it on his fingers.

Jack winced, swallowing down a string of curses as he pushed again, making a slit wide enough for him to see out of. As far as Jack could see, the coast was clear. There were no elves running about, no yetis yabbering on, and the big man himself was nowhere to be seen.

Jack pushed the lid of the hole aside and heaved himself through. He surveyed his surroundings, looking at all the things on the many shelves that lined the wall. There was a huge oak desk in front of a massive window that looked over a cliff into the snowy land, at the back of the room. The was a model train set to the left of a door.

Jack surveyed the door, and decided to ice it shut. He wanted to buy himself some time if anyone tried to get in. Content, the boy flew up to the highest shelf, and surveyed all the cool things that were there. There were old fossils, small trinkets and statues, and tiny boxes containing anonymous things that confused him.

He was midway through the third shelf, when Jack noticed something. There was a small dent in the wall, cleverly located behind a stack of uninteresting looking boxes. Jack picked them up, and placed them on top of the other boxes, keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't topple over.

Cautiously, he pressed his finger into the dent in the wall. Nothing happened, but a click above. Jack looked up, there was another dent, but this one was shining an eerie blue. Jack wasn't sure a out pressing this one. It looked... sinister. Jack flipped his staff around, and pushed the lower end of it into the dent.

There was a ticking noise, that sounded like cogs moving together within the wall, and a square drawer about the length of his hand appeared out of the wall. Jack had no idea what to expect from the thing, but a secret drawer didn't surprise him. Of course the big man had some secrets. If Jack was around as long as he was he'd have things stashed all over the place.

The drawer opened to reveal a wooden box, about the length of his middle finger. It was covered in frosted patterns, not unlike his own. But there was also a golden plaque that said in curved writing: _Jokul Frosti_. Underneath that was a thinner plaque, that was longer than the first but had smaller writing, and it read: _'andi annask svell eða vindr'._

More curious than ever, Jack opened the box, and found a gorgeous sparkling blue statue of a man, only a little smaller than the box itself. He gently lifted it out of its velvet lined box and noticed that it depicted the figure with its two arms out in front of him, resting on the hilt of a sword, that was pointed into the ground. It was so intricate, in fact, that Jack could make out the swirling runes funning down the swords length.

The figure was also wearing a fluttering cape, that was billowing out behind him. It was covered in swirling ice patterns. His hair looked like it was being whipped around by the wind, but Jack could still that it was just past shoulder length. It's ears were ever so slightly pointed, as well. The face, though, was featureless, and was also pointed down. It was made out of the same sparkling blue stone that Jack had seen in the windows of jewellery stores.

It was beautiful and intricate. The spirit turned the figurine over in his hands, marvelling at the detail. He felt a strange connection to the thing, and the name definitely rung a bell. BANG! A sudden banging at the doors made Jack drop the delicate statue. He dove down and caught it just in time, though. The banging increased when whatever was on the other side realised that the doors wouldn't open. Jack was relieved he had put the ice there, otherwise he would've been caught, red handed.

Jack Frost put the figurine back in the box, fumbling with the golden latch. But the door in the wall had closed, and Jack didn't have the time to open it again. He crammed everything he just saw into his mental folder and pushed it away, labelling it: 'To think about later'. The ice was cracking, and his time was waning. Jack thought fast, and stuffed the box into a random pocket of his SHIELD suit, that looked to made for a gun. Jack put an extra layer of ice around it to make sure it didn't slip out. He didn't want to steal, but surely the big man wouldn't know it was missing? The boxes surrounding it were covered in a thick layer of dust, after all.

Jack flew towards the uncovered manhole, hastily pulling it over his head and freezing the sides to it would stay shut.

"Warbla rarda ra!"

The garbling of a yeti made Jack move much faster. More voices joined the cacophony as they entered the room. Jack needed to move faster, he wasn't going to accomplish anything at this speed! He started to fly through the tunnels, nimbly turning all the corners, but scratching up his shoulders as he did so. It was only a few minutes before he busted through the outside manhole.

Jack could hear the chaos now. The whole workshop was alive with noise. It was mostly the garbling of yetis but Jack did hear a few bells ringing as well. He was getting a fair distance away, now the workshop only looked like a few specs in the distance.

Jack didn't stop flying until he reached his lake. He was out of breath and frankly, very scared. His breath game in ragged gasps, that couldn't keep up with his pulse. The box bumped against his stomach as he flew, making him feel indescribably guilty. He had never stolen before. At least not where it mattered. He had stolen from Santa Claus, the chief guardian of earth's children. Who was he to steal from the man.

Jack spotted his lake, and secretly hoped that the boy was there, so he could wave his arms around and try to be seen, just so he could distract himself. But the kid wasn't there, so Jack had to face his problems alone. He sighed, and flew down to the centre of the semi-frozen lake, creating a thick patch of ice for him to sit on.

The spirit almost cried as he sat down. His back, shoulders and chest were scratched to high hell, and his uniform was utterly destroyed. There were pieces of crusted black leather peeling from the damaged regions. Fury was going to kill him, probably putting him through a thorough questioning first.

With shaking hands, Jack removed the figurine from its box and studied it. He was tempted to throw it into the lake, but Jack knew he couldn't. He had a connection with this thing. Why? Why was it there? Why did its name sound so familiar? It was so strange. For hundreds of years Jack had been trying to find anything that would reveal even a smudged word of his past, but had come up empty. But here was this thing, which Jack felt an undeniable connection to, and it only made him feel angry and confused.

This thing had an almost sinister look to it. The name sounded so familiar, but it's memory was just out of reach. It was right there in his mind, but it was almost as if there was some kind of shadow forbidding Jack from seeing it. It was unlike any of his other forgotten memories, which were always so distant and lost. This one was right in front of him, and Jack was determined to find out what the hell it was. But the only person he could really ask about it was the big guy in the workshop, and Jack had a feeling he would be none-too-pleased to find the a thief demanding questions from his about something the thief never should've stolen in the first place.

So what were his other options? Could he give it to Fury and ask his little team of his to run some tests on it? It was worth a try, but there just be some other way, some other person he could talk to. Jack doubted Steve would know anything. The soldier was nice, and skilled in his knowledge of military stuff, but this statue felt...alien.

It was ethereal in a sense. Jack sighed, and had to blink his eyes a couple of times at the offending sunlight that had pierced his vision.

Oh, crap.

It was daylight already?! Jack panicked and took off leaving the lake behind, he said goodbye to his home, and hoped that that little boy would take care of it for him. Jack was really worried. It would take a little over an hour of flying to get back the the Helicarrier.

Jack flew fast, clutching his staff, and ignoring the playful tugs of the wind. He wanted to play, he really did, but he needed to get back. He had promised Fury he'd get back on time, and he was damn well going to try.

By the time Jack spotted a familiar ship, he was tired. He probably only had a couple more days left without sleep the way he was going. Then again, he was never trying to outrun yeti's before. Jack was worried. All this activity couldn't be good for him! He had always been such a relaxed person, even though on the inside he was more desperate than anything.

A jet sailed past, him, and Jack startled, almost dropping his staff. He grumbled to himself, and closed in of the deck, landing with a rushed stumble. Jack ran towards the entrance where he and Fury had exited earlier, ignoring the stares of a few other agents.

He was knocked of breath when an unseen forced slammed into his left side. His entire body recoiled at the unwelcomed contact. Ouch, he would definitely be feeling that later today. Jack groaned, trying to push himself up off the ground.

But two hands shoved him back onto the unforgiving cement. Jack's vision cleared, and saw a stony faced red-head crouched over him, wearing a black leather SHIELD suit. She had guns strapped to her sides, and Jack was sure he could see a glint of metal near her boot. She leaned in close, and Jack felt his body go rigid. Who the hell was this woman?

"Jack Frost." The woman hissed. "You're lucky you arrived when you did, we were just about to send a team to retrieve you."

"Get the hell off me!" Jack sputtered.

The woman smirked, and complied, pulling Jack roughly to his feet. His shoulder screamed in agony, and Jack's features twisted in pain. The woman's face softened for a moment, before returning back to its original blank mask. "You're hurt. We'll deal with that after you've been debriefed on what happened, and why you were so late. This isn't a game, Jack Frost, and you better have a damn good explanation ready, because Fury is expecting you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN -**

**andi annask svell eða vindr - Spirit of Ice and Wind (extremely rough Norse translation)**

**Hey guys first off I want to thank everyone for the amazing suggestions and reviews for my story, as well as everyone who favourited and followed! I'm so sorry this is late,. I honestly have no reason, just I Have been a bit slack lately. I know this is also a lot shorter than I usually write but I thought you might've wanted it sooner rather than later! I look forward to writing some of the suggestions I received! If you have any funny things (funny character interaction, pranks, fails, etc) just tell me in the reviews or send me a message! Don't be shy! I'd love to hear from you! Seriously, it makes my day! **

**By the way, if anyone of you readers out there happens to be an artist, or just good a drawing, PLEASE CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY! I'm in desperate need of a cover image for this story! **

**That's all for now, until next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

A nailed hand dug into the back of his uniform, thankfully keeping away from the torn up mess of his shoulders and back. Jack Frost was livid, if not somewhat embarrassed. This woman had come at him, when he was not prepared, held him against the ground, and threatened him in Fury's name? Who did she think she was. Jack had actually tried asking the woman in black a few times, once even exchanging his annoyed and pissed tone for a more curious and innocent one, the woman didn't take the bait, which made Jack almost scream in frustration.

They had been walking for almost 20 minutes, and besides from their original exchange, the woman hadn't said a word about, where they were going, or why he was in so much trouble in the first place! There's no way Fury could've seen what Jack looked like when he arrived. The Helicarrier didn't seem to be the kind of thing that had scenic windows, but then again, he had only explored a small area of the ship, so he could be wrong.

Jack grunted as the the collar of his uniforms was pulled back choking him, forcing his body to to stop mid-step. It didn't hit any sore spots, but Jack was fed up. He iced the tips of the fingers still attached to his collar, and the woman gasped in surprise. Jack turned around to meet her challenging stare. She spoke. "How dare you-"

The door had whooshed open, and Coulson appeared. That's strange. Coulson was the last person Jack would've expected to see right now. "Ms. Romanoff, I will take it from here. You are excused."

The woman gave Jack one final glare, which to Jack poked his tongue out at to. She growled in response and stalked back down the winding hallway they had came through.

Phil Coulson had noticed the exchange and was trying very hard to not laugh. He was biting the inside of his cheek trying to hold back his reaction from the little exchange that had just unfolded. This kid had not only frozen some part of the master assassin (judging from the shards of ice on the floor) but when she had given him one of her glares, the glare that stopped the enemy in their tracks, the kid had only pointed his tongue at her? It was a bit childish, but Coulson had to admit, the kid had guts.

Coulson signalled for Jack to walk through the door, into a small room. There were two sofas, a mini fridge and a small table with papers scattered across it's otherwise immaculate glass surface. "Have a seat, Mr. Frost. It's past due time we talked." Coulson glanced at his watch. "About two and a half hours, to be precise."

Jack's forehead creased, allowing his hair to fall into his face. He swept it back without a second thought. Two and a half hours! Jack thought he had only been a little over an hour late, not a two and half damned hours! He groaned, knowing he was not going to get out of this with a slap on the wrist.

"So, the question is, where were you, and what the hell did you do to yourself to get so banged up! That suit is fire and wind resistant, not to mention made from a very expensive material."

Jack folded his arms over his chest and thought about what he was going to say, and smirked. He had the perfect explanation.

"I was visiting Santa's workshop, you know, the one in the North Pole? Well, yeah. I was snooping around and the Yeti's almost caught me." Jack gestured to his shredded suit. "I had to make a quick escape."

Coulson's eyebrow quirked at the boy's alibi. He decided to humour him. "Well, Mr. Frost, would you happen to have any uh, evidence, or proof that you were indeed, where you say you were?" Coulson asked dryly. He hoped that they could get through this quickly before moving on to the real thing.

Phil saw Jack Frost dig into the pocket of his leg. Thinking that Jack had reached down to pull out a gun, Coulson's reaction was instant. In the blink of an eye, he had a loaded 22 magnum pointed at Jack's forehead. "Don't even try it." Coulson warned, his voice low and dangerous.

Jack's eyes widened at the sight of the gun. "What? No- I- I don't have a gun."

"Well then what the hell were you doing reaching down into your gun pocket?"

"I was getting my proof. Remember? The thing you asked for?"

Coulson blinked in surprise. He was kidding when he asked for proof, but his curiosity peaked, and against his better judgement, he asked Jack to take it out, the gun still pointed at the spirit.

Without taking his eyes off of the gun, Jack Frost pulled out the tiny box, and slid it across the table. Coulson didn't lower the gun, but Jack felt safe enough to release the breath he hadn't realised he was holding.

Jack watched the agent closely, trying to gauge his reaction. First he read the writing on the plaques, and his eyebrows furrowed. By his expression, he obviously knew something about the writing, but what?

Next, Coulson tried to pry open the golden latch. It wouldn't budge with only one hand, so, giving Jack a 'don't try anything' look, he put his gun away and pulled even harder at the latch. Jack cringed at the force he was putting into it.

"Why isn't it opening. What's inside?" Coulson demanded.

"I-I don't know. Here, let me try."

"Open the latch and then slide it back over."

Jack shrugged, reached over and grabbed the tiny box. The latch opened easily, and without complication. "C'mon, it wasn't that hard, was it?"

"You're in no position to be playing games, Mr. Frost." Coulson warned.

Jack kept his mouth shut, swallowing back all the retorts that sprung to his mind, and slid the box back over. Coulson eyed the box, and said, "On second thought, how about you open it?"

Jack shot him an annoyed look, but did as he was told. When the lid lifted, the sparkling blue figuring lay exactly where Jack had placed it. It still had the eerie feeling to it, and was still the memory he somehow couldn't place.

As soon as Coulson lay his eyes on it, his breathing quickened. I-is this Sapphire?"

Jack had no idea what sapphire was, so he stayed silent.

With shaking fingers, Coulson picked the statue up, smoothing his fingers over the fluttering cape. He studied the swirling patterns on the sword, and the frost on the cape. He tipped the statue upside down to try and get a better look at it's face, but frowned when he saw it was featureless.

"Where did you get this? Did you steal it?" Coulson's tone didn't sound menacing, just curious.

Jack sighed. "I've already told you where I got it, and, yes. I did steal it. But, I-I feel some kind of connection to it. It feels like a memory, but just one I can't reach. It's strange."

Coulson seemed to of have recovered somewhat. "Well, in my experience in dealing with magical beings, this looks like it has an element of mystery to it, which can only be deified as magical. I would like to take it in for more study."

"Like hell you will!" Jack almost shouted.

"Jack. You said that you feel a connection with this thing, didn't you?"

"Yes." Jack said brusquely.

Coulson was unperturbed. "Well, since you brought it in, I guess it's related to your research department. I'm going to be honest with you, we haven't been making much progress, aside from some unusual energy readings when it comes to you. But this, this is our first clue. This could help us find out who you are, and where exactly you came from, which is something that is in both of our best interests. I promise you we won't damage it or harm it, and if you feel the need to visit it, come talk to me and we'll arrange it, ok?"

Jack didn't know what to say. The subject of the research team hadn't been brought up, but then again it had only been a couple of days. Coulson had put it in the most reasonable way possible. What good would it do sitting in his room all day? Finally, Jack nodded.

Coulson clapped his hands together. "Good! You might be called to the lab once or twice to we can get the damn thing opened, but other from that, we shouldn't bother you too much about it. Though, I believe it is high time you give me a proper explanation for where you were, what happened, AND where you found that thing.

Jack sighed to himself. This was the beginning of a long day.

* * *

><p>It had already been a long morning for Coulson. His methods of contacting Stark weren't working out as well as he had hoped, the man was flat out ignoring him. Coulson would need to talk to Fury later on about, it. He was hoping to get authorisation to simply walk into the soon-to-be-opened Stark tower, and cornering Tony about the Avengers Initiative. He was sure Pepper Pots wouldn't mind. In fact, if he got the all clear from Fury, he would contact her over the phone. She was the CEO, after all.<p>

But that would have to wait for later. Right now, he had a more pressing matter on his hands. This kid had appeared more than two and a half hours late, his suit torn up, and practically dripping blood. He looked like he had been through hell. His eyes had looked to be hooded with guilt and worry, and Coulson was worried he'd been attacked by something. Or someone.

But, when Jack was question, he had the nerve to tell Coulson he'd been at Santa's workshop and chased down by Yeti's? It was absurd, and by far one of the most ridiculous explanations he had ever heard. Then the statue made of solid sapphire popped up. He honestly thought the kid was going to pull a gun on him. But the statue, Coulson could sense, had something strange about it. It was off somehow, there was just no other way to explain it, other than off.

Coulson had kept Jack for another 20 minutes after that. At the start, the kid kept insisting that he had been at Santa's workshop, and Coulson would d pushed him out the door if it wasn't for the sincerity in his eyes. So he questioned further. He told Phil Coulson how he had crawled through elf tunnels that lead into a room, and how he had been looking through some shelves, when he found a button in the wall. He pressed it, found the box, and was almost discovered. He got out of there through the same tunnels but he had to fly to make it out quickly enough. Which scratching up his body on rocky shards going at high speed. That made some sense, at least.

Coulson had questioned the boy thoroughly, but had to stop after he refused to tell him anything else. "I've told you everything, can I go now?" He had asked. His eyes were resigned, and he looked bored and disinterested.

Phil tried once more to coerce the boy into telling him something more believable, but all he received was a flat, deadpan look. Coulson sighed. "You are free to go, . But due to your recent activities, an agent must accompany you at all times, only making an exception for your bathroom habits. He will live next to you, in a room connected to yours. We're are putting a door in as we speak."

Jack's mouth hung open.

"As soon as you walk out that door for the day, you meet with Steve and go to breakfast, as usual. Your agent will be there with Steve to accompany you. They will take you to training, and will most likely end up being your training partner. This agent I'm assigning you will keep a sharp eye on you and will accompany you anywhere you go."

Jack had jumped out of his chair, ready for an argument. But Coulson cut him off, saying something that made him freeze his steps.

"If you do not comply, I will assign Agent Clint Barton to keep an eye on you. And trust me, he won't be happy about it." Coulson's features softened when the Jack threw him a dirty look. "They're not my orders kid, this is only temporary, but I expect you to get along well with this agent."

There was a knock at the door, and Coulson hollered for them to enter. A tall, lean man walked through the door, he had sunglasses resting atop his head, the same SHIELD suit, flame-red hair, and though he had the SHIELD issued facial expression, there was a glint of humour in his green eyes. Aside from the usual gun at the waist, this man had what looked to be a small baton strapped to his waist. Jack eyed it warily.

"Jack Frost, meet Alex Summers, your uh, well... I would call it chaperone, but that would be kind of offensive, seeing as Mr. Summers here is a highly trained SHIELD agent, so let's just call him your partner, for now."

Alex walked forward and offered out his hand to Jack. Begrudgingly, he took it, applying a light layer of Frost across the man's glove. Alex seemed unfazed, but did turn his hand over to curiously inspect the icy pattern.

Giving an approving nod, Coulson walked out of the room, but stopped suddenly. "Jack, you have training in half an hour. Go back to your room and get fitted into a new suit. There is a first aid kit on the kitchen bench, Mr. Summers has been asked to assist you in bandaging up your wounds. Don't resist, training's going to be tough today." And with that, Coulson left.

Jack stomped out the door, a silent Alex trailing behind them. He was feeling spiteful so with a scream of frustration, Jack froze the entire hallway, coating the walls, floor and ceiling in slippery, sparkling ice.

"Yeah, it looks better that way, I was never a fan of the ominous black hallways anyway."

Jack whirled around in surprise, but recovered quickly, "Don't talk to me." He growled, trying his best to scowl menacingly at the man.

Alex, however, seemed unfazed. "You know Jack, I have a particularly bratty 12 year old niece back at home, and right now, I can't tell the difference between the two of you."

Jack's eye narrowed. He was so done with this while training thing. Right now, SHIELD was treating him as a child. He had already had a long day, he was tired, aching, and fed up. Jack swung his staff in Alex's direction. But the threat that had been boiling at his lips vanished when Alex ducked, quicker than lightning. That baton he had seen strapped to the agent's waist was out, but with a flick of his hand, it had extended in to a 5ft long pole. It was so simple, but the way Alex swing it around in his hands made it look so effective.

Pretty soon, the agent had the pole pointed towards Jack. "Hey, listen. I'm going to get this straight right now. I have to be at your side at all times, so we're going to have to get along with each other. Fighting won't solve anything, and if your really that pissed with me, you can take out your anger in training, seeing as we're sparring partners as well. So, calm down, and let's talk."

Jack hesitated, but this guy was spot on. He didn't like the circumstances he was in, or the fact that he was being shadowed wherever he went, but this guy was the first agent he'd seen, (aside from Steve, but he wasn't really an agent to begin with) that was agreeable, and actually made an effort to talk with him.

"Can you teach me how to do that thing with the stick?" Jack blurted.

Alex's serious face split into a surprised grin. "You want to learn Bōjutsu? I've tried to teach some of the other agents before, but they think it's useless. They say that a stick isn't the best weapon to wield, and that they'd prefer to fight with knives or gun's, but it's probably the great defensive weapon out there! Well, aside from the Captains shield of course." His sentance was all over the place, but Jack got the gist of it.

"What's Bōjutsu?" Jack questioned.

Alex looked happy to explain. "It's a Japanese fighting style, and it's usually incorporated with hand-to-hand combat. They say that this thing," He held up the stick, "the Bō, is merely an extensions of one's limbs when fighting. It's the first thing you need to remember when you wield a Bō." Alex looked so proud of himself. He didn't look cocky, and obviously didn't think he was hot stuff, like Clint did. Alex just looked like he was proud to be probably the only one that thought the Bōjutsu fighting was the best way to go. And, by the way Alex was swinging that stick around, Jack thought it was pretty cool too. And he wanted to learn.

"So Jack, do you want to learn?" Alex asked as he leaned forward, an eager glint in his eye.

Jack's face slip into a broad grin. "Well, I guess this staff has got to be handy for things other than freezing ruse archers to the floor." He said as he gestured to the the crooked stick.

Alex's eyes widened comically. "You didn't..."

* * *

><p>There was a knock at Jack's bedroom door. Jack was getting into another one of his SHIELD issued suits, after painfully stripping away the shredded leather remnants of his last one, and Alex bandaging his back and shoulders. He had iced over his body again, tenderly putting a light coating his wounded skin. He and Alex had walked back to Jack's little corner of the Helicarrier, with Jack recalling yesterday morning's hilarious events, and Alex guffawing at every second sentence.<p>

They had even ran into Steve, and it seemed that Steve and Alex knew each other. Jack was surprised at this, until Steve said that he had requested someone to spar with, and because of Alex's unique fighting style, he was seemingly perfect for advanced hand-to-hand combat. Steve mentioned that Alex Summers had almost put him on his ass before Steve had ripped the stick away from him. Alex wasn't completely defences, of course, but only lasted another minute going head to head with the super soldier before he found himself laying on his back with Steve looming over top of him, offering a hand up.

"His fighting style was different, and it was great to spar with him." Steve had mentioned. Alex had grinned in response.

Jack Frost found Alex to be a hell of a lot different from the other either rude, or shy agents. He was easy to talk with and had a wicked sense of humour. He even made fun of himself a few times, making hilarious red head jokes that Jack had mostly understood. Jack had only seen such firefly locks once before, and that was when he visited a strange country, where the festivals lasted long into the night, and they all spoke with a strange garbled version of english.

Alex knocked at the door to Jacks's room again, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Coming!" He yelled.

"Hurry up, Jack it's freezing in here!" The red head complained.

Jack sniggered to himself and glanced at his boots. He decided he wouldn't wear them, and if Coulson had a problem with it, he could refer back to Jack's last results with the boots on. He strutted out the door, barefoot and glancing at Alex who was huddled on the couch hugging a pillow.

"T-took you l-long enough." He chattered. "You've got the walls iced up AND the air-con at full power. I know you control ice and everything, but do you even feel the cold?"

Jack shrugged. "The colder the better, when it comes to me. I've never really noticed the cold. It's the heat that I feel. If I'm ever suffering from a life-threatening wound, lay me down in the snow and pile it on top of me. It helps me heal faster."

Alex seemed to process this information quickly. He rushed to the door, and waited there for Jack to scan his finger before bolting stepping out the door. Jack chuckled to himself. 'The cold really wasn't that bad, was it?' He thought to himself.

Alex checked his watch just as Jack stepped out the door after him and groaned.

"We're going to be late. It's a ten minute walk and we have two minutes to be there." He groaned again. "I'm going to get my ass kicked for this, it's the first day on the job!"

Jack felt really bad for the man. He had taken longer than necessary to get ready, and now he had made them late. He really didn't want to get his new friend in trouble. "Can we run?" Jack asked?

"You can try, but at this hour, your bound to bowl over some people." Alex said glumly.

Jack's eyed brightened as an idea came to mind. "Well... What if not.. on the ground?"

"What are you talking about?" Alex questioned, a mix of wariness and curiosity in his eyes.

Jack grinned devilishly, and walked up behind Alex. Alex stood still but looked over his shoulder at the frost spirit. "What are yo-" he was cut off as Jack slid his arms under the agents armpits and took to the air.

Alex Summers let out a loud yell through the first hallway, causing a few alarmed scientists to stick their heads of of their labs. All the caught sight of was a black streak tinged with white and red. 5 hallways later, Alex had calmed down somewhat and yelled, "I didn't know you could fly dammit!"

"Really?" Jack shouted. "When I told you I control the ice and wind I wasn't kidding around! Just relax and enjoy it!"

Alex must've been somewhat of a thrill seeker, because Jack heard a few gleeful shouts as the two zoomed toward their destination. They were going so fast now that Alex wasn't hanging from where Jack was holding him anymore, his torso and legs had risen, and they were both flying straight. It was a good thing too, because Alex had almost knocked out a few bewildered agents with his steel-capped boots on more than one occasion.

They skidded to a halt only one short hallway down from the training room, and Jack settled them on the ground. Alex stood with shaking limbs, but he looked absolutely exhilarated. "That amazing! I can see why flying can come in handy!" Alex said.

"Yeah, it's great. I hate when I'm cooped up for too log without being allowed to go flying." Jack sighed. "I guess that's going to be happening a lot more often now, though, now that I'm under house arrest."

Sensing Jack's discomfort, Alex spoke up. "Well you can always give Fury a run for him money and go for a zoom around the Helicarrier. I can just imagine, you flying around and Fury chasing after you! It be hilarious!"

Jack seemed to cheer up a little. The pair started walking toward the training room and promptly arrived with only seconds to spare. Fury was waiting for them, and raised an eyebrow at Alex's appearance. Jack had to admit, it did look kinda funny. His hair was slicked back, due to flying so fast, but the back of his hair was messy and tangled together, his red locks sticking out behind him. All in all, Alex looked like he had been electrocuted.

Alex smiled sheepishly and subtly shifted behind Jack as they approached Fury. "I suspect there were no compilations, Mr. Summers?"

Alex stepped forward and looked the director in the eye. "None at all sir, Ja- uh, Mr. Frost has behaved himself." Jack shot an annoyed glance in his partners direction, and received a shrug of apology in return.

"Very good. Alex, you're dismissed for a few minutes, I need to talk to Jack privately. Go warm up."

Alex nodded and disappeared into the training room.

"Frost. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but don't screw me around. I will let this go, just this once, but if I am ever presented with such an absurd explanation again, from the likes of you, I will not hesitate to strip your flying privileges from you."

Jack's eyes widened. He thought he wasn't allowed to go flying anymore! "So I'm still allowed to fly, then?"

Fury nodded. "Yes, but only within a 10 mile radius of the ship. If you want to go any further, you must be accompanied. And you must always be on time. I will give you a watch. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." Jack grinned.

"Fury?"

"Yes, Mr. Frost?"

"Thank-you."

Fury gave a hint of a smile. "Just stuck by the rules I've set, and you won't need to thank me for any favours of the sort again."

Jack nodded and slipped into the training room. His bright blue eyes widened with shock, as he noticed the changes that had been made. There were black walls about half a foot thick, all connecting strategically to form a twisting maze. Well, it was kind of like two mazes. There was a big pathway down the middle of the maze. There were also two groups of men and women, both of equal number and dressed in SHIELD standard black, set apart by the different coloured sashes they were wearing.

The group to the left was wearing a red sash, whilst the group to the right was wearing a blue one. What the hell did Coulson have in store him today?

Fury walked up behind Jack. The man was so silent even Jack didn't hear him. "Where's Coulson?" Jack questioned.

"Agent Coulson has been called in to another one of SHIELD's top secret bases. He will be there for a minimum of two weeks."

Jack frowned. He had to admit, he held a bit of a grudge against the man at the moment, but Jack had been looking forward to going over some more defence techniques in training today. Coulson seemed to explain in a way that Jack could actually understand, and that was a quality that was hard to come by.

"Moving on. Today, Jack Frost, you will be taught patience, stealth, and aim. This-" Fury pulled out what looked to be a gun from behind his back. Jack didn't even flinch. "Is a paintball gun. We don't particularly want anybody to die today, so we're using gun's that shoot balls of paint at the victim. But rest assured Frost, it still hurts like a bitch." Fury gave a twisted smile.

"There are two teams of 20. And just to make it interesting, Steve has decided to join in on the fun." Fury gestured to Steve, who was standing with the red team idly chatting to some of the other agents. "Mr. Summers is on your team, to make it fair."

"But I don't know how to use a gun." Jack protested.

Fury sighed. "We figured that out pretty quickly. You will be using your staff. Everyone is wearing protective gear, but any icy hits to the head or crotch area and you get a time penalty. If you get hit, you're out. The aim of the game is to take out all the opponents team before time runs out. If the time runs out, and members from both teams are standing, the team with the most members will be the winners. Oh, and you can't exit the maze, or using your flying powers. If you do, you're out as well. Any questions?"

Jack shook his head.

"Both team to their ends!" Fury shouted.

The red team shuffled to the other end of the large room, going via the path separating the maze. They stopped at the other end, awaiting instruction. Jack walked over to Alex and slipped on the blue sash he offered him. "I take it you've never played paintball before?" Alex said, a smirk evident in his voice.

Jack gave him a deadpan look, but said nothing.

"Well at least you have your staff thingy. I think it can be used to our advantage, because I'm pretty sure no one wants their ass blasted with ice." He grinned.

Jack returned the grin.

A loud blaring noise sounded across the room, and Jack's team began to move into the maze via the first opening. "That's our signal to go." Alex said. "Stick with me, and if your unsure what to do, just ask. You've got my back, and I've got yours, alright?" Jack gulped, and nodded. He was nervous, but looking forward to the game. Alex and Jack stepped forward into the maze, and Jack looked around. The walls were at least 3 times as high as he was, and if Jack stretched his arms out, he could just touch each side of the path they were on.

A shot sounded, followed by a shout of surprise and a grumble of defeat. "I wonder who that was? Alex whispered to himself. Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts. Focus. He needed to focus. This may be a game, but Jack did not want to get shot. He had a bullet nick his shoulder before, when he was checking out what ended up being a war zone. It had been extremely painful, and Jack had lay down under a snowdrift for a few days to recuperate. He knew that these balls of paint wouldn't hurt as much as that did, but he didn't want to find how the comparison.

Jack and Alex Summers had moved further and further into the maze. A lot of people didn't know that Alex was skilled with a gun. They all thought that he used his Bō for protection and because was pretty useless at everything else. It was untrue, of course. Alex simply just loved using his Bō. There was nothing else to it other than the fact that he was extremely skilled at using it.

Alex had seen the fear spring in Jack's eyes when the first shot rang through the room. It wasn't as loud as a normal gunshot, of course. But in a room of highly trained SHIELD agents in stealth mode, you could almost hear a pin drop. Alex would try his best to watch Jack's back, and he prayed that Jack would watch his. Because getting hit with a paintball wasn't necessarily an enjoyable experience.

They had moved further and further into the maze, and their team had scattered into all directions. Jack and Alex stood alone at a dead end. Jack was in the process of turning around, and Alex was cursing under his breath, when shots rang across the room.

PAP PAP PAP

Paint was flying, and Jack had instinctively ducked at the noise. It was all out war now. The noise was like somebody had flipped a switch, going from stealthy silence, to frantic cacophony. Jack could hear shouts ringing throughout the room, and his heart almost stopped when he saw a red agent walk past them. Alex let out a shout of surprise, but they saw a splat of red on the agent's back, and the pair both breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think it's time to get out of here. We don't want to trapped here in a dead end when we encounter an active member of the other team." Alex spoke up.

Jack nodded his agreement, and the two padded out of there, turning down another hallway. Jack was worried about Steve. There was no doubt in Jack's mind that the super soldier was skilled with a gun, being in the army and all. Jack was sure the majority of the shouts of victory were coming from him.

They turned another corner, and bumped into a member of their team. Jack instinctively raised his staff, ready to blast the woman when he realised that it was a member of his own team. "Emily?" Alex questioned.

"Look out you two, Captain Rogers is a sharp shooter, he's taken out 9 people already. Add that in with the other soldiers, and I'm pretty sure we only have about 6 people left. Good luck." She said, and vanished from sight.

Jack looked toward Alex who had a playful glint in his eyes. "I'm done hiding from these guys. It's time to ice up some asses, are you ready?" Jack nodded. He was still nervous, but after hearing what Emily had just said, he was rearing to go. Alex gave him a devilish grin and tilted his head. "Good, because I can hear someone coming."

Jack tuned in using his keen senses and listened to the footfalls that were approaching. "They're too light to be Steve." He whispered.

"Do you want to take it?" Alex asked?

Jack hesitated, but nodded slightly and moved forward. Very slowly, he peered around the corner and got a good look at the offending agent. It was red, and he was still active. Jack had an advantage, because the man was turned slightly away from where he was hiding. Deciding he wanted to get this done quickly, Jack pulled his staff out in front of him, and shot a small blast of ice at the back of the man's leg. Ice formed around the majority of his lower calf, and the man gasped, turning around with narrowed eyes.

Jack stepped out, and gave the man a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I hope it didn't hurt too much."

"I'm fine." The man grumbled, and stormed off.

Alex had appeared behind Jack, and suddenly, fired his gun four times. Jack scrambled away, retreating back to the safety of his corner. "Dammit, I missed him. I guess you forgot that guy your shot had a partner, hey frost boy."

Jack scowled at his obvious mistake, and looked at Alex. His eyes held humour in them, but we're still sharp and looking for the person he had shot at. Two shots fired, and Alex ducked, causing the red pellets to splatter against the wall behind him. Jack's partner fired off another shot, and whooped a cry of victory. "Yes! I got her! Ok, I think we're done here, let's move."

Jack followed Alex as they tiptoed through the maze. They encountered another 3 agents. Jack took the first one out with ease, and Alex the second one. But the third one was extremely nimble. She kept twisting and turning, avoiding both shots of ice and blue paint. But Jack ended up cornering her in a dead end, and hitting her shoulder. Unlike the other agent, this woman walked forward, and shook both Jack and Alex's hand. "That was fun, good job." She had said.

Jack had been extremely surprised at this. He looked to Alex, who only shrugged and they kept moving.

They were now moving swiftly through each section of the maze, even daring to dart across the pathway down the middle. They made it, but we're fired at a few times. The two were back to moving through the maze, which was now covered in splats of red and blue paint. They were in the middle of the left side of the maze, when Jack heard footfalls approaching. Heavy footfalls.

"I'd say we got them all but the bell hasn't sounded yet, so there must be one left. Jack heard the familiar tone of Steve's voice and cringed. Alex must've caught a glimpse of the him because he turned to Jack and whispered. "Rogers is two hallways down. He's got 4 other agents with him, and from what I know, they're all sharp shooters." Jack looked over his shoulder at Alex and grimaced. He had a plan formulating in his mind and smiled at the pure evil genius of it.

"Alex," he whispered, "I have a plan. It's playing a little bit dirty, but it is two against five, super soldier included. Whatever happens, just cover me."

Alex nodded solemnly. This was where it ended.

The large group with red sashes had crossed into the hallway very close to where the two were hiding. If they kept walking, they would walk right past Jack and Alex. Jack smiled to himself. Everything was in position, the enemy team had fallen into a trap.

Jack Frost touched his staff to the ground, and sent a burst of energy into it. The floor iced before his eyes, and Alex started laughing. The ice by now would have iced up a little more that a third of the left side of the maze.

The red team was shouting in surprise. Jack heard a man say, "It's that Frost kid! He's still active!"

Jack turned to Alex, his face alight with pride. "Alex, try taking a few of the out."

Alex crept forward, firing a few shots of blue at the bewildered team. He nicked the shoulder of the one right in front, before the group dove down to all sides. It was actually kind of funny to see them sliding around on the ice. No, it was hilarious. Jack burst into delighted laughter, earning a few grumbles from the other team.

Steve spoke up. "Jack! That was clever! May the best man win!"

Jack smiled. Usually when he iced up a road, or a street, he wasn't compliment for his smarts.

Alex was wearing his trademark grin, and he looked ready for a fight. He turned to Jack.

"Steve's right, that was awesome! Now we're a lot more even. Though, if I could take a guess, I would say that we have more of an advantage, because they may be able to stand still and shoot, be its probably really hard to to dodge an incoming paintball when your standing on ice."

Jack poked his head out and saw that Steve had assembled the team close to the wall, on the same side as Jack and Alex were, making it harder for them to shoot, and so that they would need to put more of their body out into the open to hit a target. Jack had to give it to Steve, it was a smart move.

"Jack, can you extend the wall from the corner about two feet out, and make it so there's a hole about the size of a large orange in the middle of it, about chest level?"

Jack was thoroughly confused, but he trusted Alex, and nodded. It would take a bit of energy, but he could do it with ease. Using his staff, Jack touched it to where the ground met the corner of the wall, and drew an icy line about two feet out into the hall. The tip of his staff was fired at a few times, but it didn't deter him. With a final burst of energy, he drew up a wall, taking special care to put an small hole about chest level in the ice.

Jack heard Steve and the other curse at what he had done, but the noise of feet sliding on the ice had stopped. Alex gave a wicked grin. Jack was still in the dark about Alex's plan, but it soon came to light when the agent crawled out to where the hole was and stuck the muzzle of his gun through. Steve's keen eyes saw it first, and he yelled out.

"Run for cover!"

But it was too late. Alex had already taken aim and began to fire off several rounds at the scattering group. Jack smothered his hand over his face to hold back his laughter at seeing the scattering agents. He managed, but only just.

Jack giggles abruptly stopped, when the hair on the back of his neck rose. Alex was still firing away, and paint was coming from both sides, but something was...off. An agent rounded the corner, right behind where Alex was crouched, and fired a red paintball directly into his back. He gasped, before groaning at his defeat. "Sorry Jack," he grumbled, "your on your own."

Alex trotted off to go wait with the other non-active players. Jack was stunned by what had just happened. Steve had tricked him. By only sending one of his team out, and travelling in a line against the wall, it looked like no one was missing from their group, and made it so that a single person could sneak around and take them by surprise.

He was impressed, but Jack more also angry. Against his better judgement, he stalked up the hall, and saw the woman that had fired walking alongside Alex, talking to him. Jack raced forward and quickly shot a bolt of ice at her back, hitting her square between the shoulders. Both her and Alex turned around in surprise and Alex laughed outright.

"Good one, Jack! She wasn't expecting it?"

The woman shot a flare at Jack before she turned and stormed off, the ice cracking and falling to the ground under her shifting shoulders. Alex gave Jack a smirk before he turned and jogged off after her.

The winter spirit started walking back the way he came, when he heard a loud siren echo throughout the area.

Fury's boomed throughout the room. "Times up. All remaining players report to the front of the room."

Jack looked down the hall saw Steve slide past his ice wall, and waited for him to catch up.

"Tough game, right?"

"Yeah, that was really smart, sending that lady out to come from the other side. We weren't expecting it at all."

They walked side by side, idly chatting with each other until they reached the opening where the blue team had entered.

Fury approached, "Very good boys! Jack, I can honestly say that I'm surprise you were one of the last men standing. Captain Rogers, I expected nothing less."

Steve grinned. "It was the most fun I've had in a while, Director."

Fury nodded. "Everyone is dismissed for the rest of the day. You are relieved from your duties for a couple of hours. Go, and enjoy yourselves."

Alex approached from Jack's left. "Awesome! Fury almost never lets us off. It's usually Coulson or Agent Hill that gives us break time. But I guess they have to let us agents use the gaming room for something, right?

"The gaming room?" Jack questioned.

"Oh, man, you're going to love it."

* * *

><p><strong>AN - Hey I'm back bigger and better than ever before! (I'm kidding) This chapter is over 7000 words and 12 pages on word, so I'm very please with myself. I truly hope you liked the OC character, Alex. You'll be seeing a lot more of him. I know the story is taking a while to go somewhere, but I promise that the next one will show the advancement of Jack's skills over maybe a week or so. Can anyone guess where Coulson went? There will be more of Steve in the next chapter as well for those who missed him in this one. By the way, did anyone catch the reference in the last chapter? Ahem, 'A figure in red in blue." if you caught it. Someone has contacted me about drawing a cover photo but if you want to have a go, please message me! Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I know its moving slow, but there will be more progress in the next few chapters. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourites this story, you guys give me life! So, tell me what you liked, didn't like, favourite, follow, but most importantly, REVIEW! Tell me if you loved it, or if you didn't like this chapter too much. Tell me what I can do better, any spelling or grammar mistakes I've made, I want to hear it all! Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

This room that Alex had brought him to reminded Jack of the city he visited last night. There were bright lights and noises flashing around, and thumping music echoed off of the seemingly soundproof walls, as Jack hadn't heard anything before Alex opened the door.

It was strange, and foreign. People glanced his way, and moved to the other side of the room. Jack sighed. It seemed as though a lot of the agents still hadn't accepted him yet. He supposed he would have to get used to it.

"C'mon, we don't want to be in this part anyway. It smells like body odour and month old training boots." Alex joked, sensing Jack's obvious discomfort.

Jack trailed behind Alex as the skirted the edge of the surging mass of people. Jack and A,ex had relaxed in Alex's room for a few hours, basically killing time before they went to the 'Gaming Room'. Alex taught Jack what the TV does, expertly using the long thin device he called a remote, to change what he called 'channels' on the TV. Alex said there was nothing interesting on, and that they'd have to settle for a nature documentary. Jack wasn't exactly sure what a 'documentary' was, but soon found out that it taught you about different animals.

Jack had been fascinated by all the different species of fauna that flashed across the screen. It was a whole new experience, and if Jack looked at the screen too long, he found himself looking around the room as if to get a better look at the sandy deserts or jungles around him, only to realised he could only see what was on the TV.

He had cringed when a huge black wolf appeared, savagely ripping into some unfortunate animal. Jack had begun discussing his hate for the beasts, recalling a story about being attacked by a random one when he was nosing around in a small patch of woods.

This spurred a flurry of stories from Alex, and the red-head soon have Jack wiping tears from his eyes from laughing too hard. The guy was just too funny! He animated his tales with different sounds and gestures that made it all the more funnier. Jack was mid-way through telling about his fun time chasing a group of spooked wild horses through wide open fields when Alex's watched had beeped, signalling it was time to leave. Alex had advised Jack to change, so Jack rushed next door and put on his beloved hoodie and trousers.

And now, they were here, toeing their way past over-excited party-goers. After a tense couple of minutes, Jack and Alex broke free of the crowd, and made their way to the back of the room. This room was better, but still noisy in its own way. There were pools tables, and card games, and even a soccer match progressing to the right. In addition, a huge space of about 60 square feet was at the back of the room.

But the main thing Jack noticed, is that it was hot. Near frozen sweat was dripping down the side of Jack's face, in his immortal body's attempt to keep his internal systems moderately below zero. The spirit of Winter knew he couldn't stay in here for too long. This room was huge, surely there must be air-conditioning in here?

Jack had come to rely on air-conditioning. Fury made sure that it was cold in the training room, and Jack managed to keep himself moderately cool wherever else he went in the Helicarrier, but this room must've been about 90 degrees! Probably because the gaming rooms are sealed off from the rest of the ship to block out noise.

"Hmm, that's strange. There's usually a lot more people in here. I guess they moved all the speakers and stuff out into the lounge area, seeing as the AC in here isn't working." Alex commented.

Jack swallowed, and formed a fresh layer of ice under his clothes. He had found that after he got used to being in his SHIELD uniform for so long, he only needed to coat his body in ice when he got really hot. Like now, for instance, even though he was back to the classic hood and trousers. Jack knew it wasn't going to last long, maybe 10 minutes or so before water started to drop down his leg.

Alex looked at Jack with wide eyes. Well, they were always kinda wide. His green tinged eyes always kinda looked a little too big for his head, but they always held a glint of humour. Something that Jack appreciated in a person.

"Hey Jack, it is kinda hot in here, even for me! How are you holding?"

"I'll be fine for a little while. I've got a bit of a party trick that helps me keep cool." He covered his hand in a fine layer of frost to prove his point. Alex scoffed. "I wish I could do that. It would've really helped when the main aircon system spontaneously combusted one fine summers day. The whole Helicarrier felt like an oven, and us agents were all cooking alive."

Jack winced. He would've been clawing at the door to get out and fly away. But he could've just froze a couple of rooms and let everybody cool down in there. Wait a minute.

"Ugh. It is really hot in here, I don't think we should stay too long. Maybe I can introduce you to a few people before we leave." Alex stated.

Jack felt kind of glum. He'd been having a great day already. Asides from the rather harsh morning, Today Jack had played paintball (which was actually kind of fun) made what he considered a new friend, and even found a clue that could be the leading factor in unlocking his memories and finding out more about himself. Add that in with Alex's story-telling skills and you have a happy frost spirit. But take away the air-conditioning and his night out, you've left the immortal bringer of Winter feeling a little sour.

So for the next 20 minutes, Jack tailed Alex around, only speaking when someone spoke to him, laughing at people's jokes, and smiling nervously when he was introduced to a new person. There was only one person that he didn't mind too much. That was the woman that had walked up and shook hands with him in the middle of a paintball game after he and Alex had spent a while trying to get her out. Jack had made the hit, and the woman had smiled and shook his hand, complimenting the spirit on his keen shot.

She had been pleasant to talk to, somewhat serious, but also very sarcastic. Sometimes, when she was talking, Jack couldn't tell the difference. Alex didn't seem to know her very well, but she had seen them and introduced herself. Her name was Christine, and she had straight brown hair that framed her thin features and pale blue eyes, one's that always seemed to hold a challenge within them.

Alex seemed to keep his friends close, but his enemy's closer, it seemed. One of the more confident agents approached as Alex and Jack were making their way over to the soda machine, and sneered at the two. "Look's like you found the little reject, eh Summers? I bet you two are best of buddies, spend all of your time together. Is that a stick you got there, ice-boy? I bet Alex gave it to you, didn't he. We all know what a fan of sticks he is."

The man honestly reminded Jack of a rat. His features were too close of his nose, his mouth twisted into a sneer. But he was tall. Jack estimated him to be almost as tall as Steve!

Poor Alex was obviously embarrassed. His face was set into a permanent cringe, and he was choosing to look to the left instead of tilting his head upwards to stare at the man. Jack let out a bored sigh, and examined his nails, trying to pick minuscule flecks of red and blue paint from the tips.

"It's not a stick, you know. It's a staff, and it's a hell of a lot more powerful than you'll ever dream to be."

"I don't dream to be powerful, kid. I know I'm the best. Better than you, better than Alex, and better than anyone in this room."

Jack's ocean blue eyes had turned dark, and he took his most menacing step forward. "I don't know wh-"

"Oof!"

The Winter Spirit was shoved back by both of the mans meaty arms, and toppled over Alex. It was a tangled mess of limbs and hair, until Jack stood straight up, clutching his staff in the white knuckle of his right hand. Tensions were high in the gaming room, and many of the agents had turned toward the direction of the fight.

'Time to end this now.' Jack thought.

With a single fluid swing, the spirit waved his trusted staff at the sneering giant. "I'll give you one last warning. Back. Off." Jack growled. His voice was dark and ominous, and everyone but the bully had started to notice the frantic breeze bouncing through the room, and the sudden drop in temperature.

"Oh yeah? What are you-"

The guy was cut off when Jack pulled his staff back and swung it towards the brute's feet, adding extra energy to swiftly coat his ankles in a thicker layer of ice. A deep, rich colour of blue glacier-like ice weighed down the taller man's feet, and snaked up his leg. Jack felt kind of annoyed now, wishing he had picked a more original method, rather than freezing someone's lower half again. But, it was done.

Jack offered his right hand out to Alex and helped him up off of the tiled floor. Alex dusted himself off, gaping at the thrashing guy frozen in the centre of the room. The thicker ice had started cracking, and nobody moved to help him. All the agents stood crowded around him, half of them gaping and looking around with frantic eyes, but the other half were smiling. Some of them had smug smiles they tried to unsuccessfully hide with their hands, others were pointing strange flashing devices at the man, and the rest were downright laughing. One rowdy group of men laughed so hard the tumbled onto the floor, tears leaking out of their eyes.

Some of the crystal ice started to break off of where it stopped in the middle of the man's upper calf, and he looked near to tears. He was frantic in his movements, trying to escape the mocking stares of the rest of the room. Jack glanced over to Alex, who had joined the party of people who were trying to hide their smiles. The wind had ceased, and the temperature had gone back to normal.

The Winter Spirit shifted his gaze to the crowd. This man was downright nasty, and Jack had put him in his place, but he didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to be humiliated, with all of his peers laughing and staring holes at where he stood. Jack sighed. He had done this.

* * *

><p>Steve Rogers stood at the very back of the room, with a disappointed frown on his face, and a resigned look in his eyes. He had been in this room all night, bearing the stuffy heat and coy glances from some of the female agents. All night he had been keeping is eyes on a particular frost spirit. He watched as Jack and his partner Alex Summers wandered through the vast room, mingling with some of the agents that didn't seem to enjoy the mini-club in the other room.<p>

Jack was obviously a little shy, and Steve completely understood. His transformation into a super solider had opened up completely new pathways for him. There was always someone new to meet, some other person he had to impress. But thankfully, his mother had raised him well, and taught him manners how to socialise.

Jack had never learned any of these things, never had anyone to teach him. Steve got the feeling that this kid was always a bit of a loner, and the fact that nobody had ever seen him (this still confused Steve) for nearly 300 years, he the soldier guessed he wasn't very well socialised.

So he watched from the corner of the room. Jack seemed to be having a good time, and Alex didn't push him to meet new people, answering all of his questions and introducing the kid only when Jack stepped out from behind him. Steve could see these two already had a strong friendship. They way they walked beside each other, and their non-verbal communication reminded him of how soldiers acted on the battlefield, in a way.

Like they way that if Jack was feeling too shy to say hello, he would subtly shift behind Alex, and keep his head down. Alex would keep his conversation with this person as short as possible, and move onto someone else. And if Jack took an interest in someone, the red-head did as much as possible to ease Jack into a conversation with them. They had met about 20 people, Jack only really talking to a few of them, but seemed to be enjoying himself, until another agent approached the two.

Steve sensed trouble as the guy lumbered over, and his suspicions were confirmed when Alex went rigid, standing straight up where he stood. Jack seemed to notice and gave a quizzical balance at the man. Steve couldn't hear what the agent said as they were all the way across the huge room, but his super-hearing could detect the snarl in his voice. The hundred-or-so agents seemed to gravitate towards the escalating fight, and Steve began to close in, taking cautious strides.

He barely had time to blink before Alex and Jack were shoved over by the brute. Steve noticed the auburn-haired woman Jack was conversing with earlier begin to run over, but she was still too far away. Steve himself had begaun to break into a jog, but stopped in his tracks when Jack stood up. He looked calm, and sure of himself. Steve knew Jack could handle himself, and honestly wanted to see how he would deal with this particular situation.

Jack tilted his head up, and Steve began to back up to the corner he had been standing in as a few of the more observant agents shit him curious glances. Steve smiled to himself when he saw Jack trying to reason the situation, or at telecast that what's he presumed was going on. Steve's back hit the wall a little to the left of where he had previously been standing. He watched intently, observing the situation from afar.

The soldier sucked in a surprised gasp when Jack swung his wicked staff at the man, midway through the bully's sentence. It was like what happened with Clint all over again, only this time it wasn't funny. There were only three people in the room when Jack had frozen Clint, and it was only a monitor dent in his pride. Jack had done this in the middle of a huge room full of people, all watching and gaping at what had happened.

Steve observed that this man wasn't very well like among his co-workers. Nobody had moved to help to poor man, and the poor guy thrashed desperately trying to break free. Steve was so disappointed, as he watched some the agents laugh and point their tiny mobile telephones and take pictures of the scene. The man was now red in the face, and looked close to crying.

He was so disappointed in Jack, his friend. Steve Rogers sighed, and stepped forward to help the man unfortunate man. This wasn't right, nobody deserves this. Jack could've dealt with this so much better, just could've walked away, and left the man to himself. But he took petty revenge, and even though this man was a downright bully, and was very unreasonable in his approach, he didn't deserve this.

Steve was halfway there, when Jack took a careful, measured step forward. The frozen man shot Jack a glare of pure hatred, mingled in with a sliver of fear. Steve moved faster, attempting to stop Jaco before he did something he would regret. Like embarrass the guy further. But he didn't. He just stopped, and stared. His frosty gaze staring at the ice encasing the man's legs. And then, without a sound, he hooked the curved end of his staff at the top of the ice, finding a place where some of the ice had cracked off and left a gap between where skin met ice. He gave a small tug, as if to make sure the staff was secure, and the yanked it back. The ice started cracking.

With a determined expression, Steve saw Jack dig his bare feet into the tiled floor and pulled even harder. Large bits of ice started to fall off, and the trapped man started moving wildly, thrashing and twisting his waist in an attempt to free himself. Jack cringed. He looked like he was actually starting to feel very guilty.

With a final taxing tug, a large chunk of ice cracked down the middle and split from the frozen hill. The man wrenched himself from the remaining ice, and practically ran out of the room, his face bright red, from both effort and embarrassment.

Steve looked at Jack in a new light, not judging, but taking notice. Taking notice of the way his forehead creased when they agents began cheering, and wincing when some of the bolder ones walked up and cautiously patted him on the back. How he whipped around to Alex and began talking to him, checking if he was ok, asking questions. This kid could go both ways when it came to training. Either taking the aggressive and quick approach, or reasoning, and understanding. Steve wandered out of the room, deciding he needed to have a chat with Fury.

* * *

><p>"Alex, I know it might be a little late to ask this, but who the hell was that guy?" Jack asked incredously.<p>

His partner's eyes were still wide with shock, but the agent was grinning from ear to ear, his red locks falling into his eyes. "Jack! I can't believe you did that! You- that was frickin' awesome! He's Daniel, aka 'The Eagle' but nobody calls him that. It's a stupid name he made up himself."

Another agent walked by and grinned at a bewildered Jack, giving him a small salute.

"Ok, then. What is all that about?" Jack questioned, nodding his head in the direction of the passing agent.

"Well, he's kind of the Helicarrier's resident jerk, and he pissed off either every person in this room, or their friends."

Jack frowned, wanting to discuss this matter further, but he still had other questions. "So why did he pick us in particular?" Jack asked, cringing as a burly agent patted him on the back.

Alex's eyes turned dark, and looked towards the floor. "Well, uh, were were all kinda rookie agents, and still in training. At the time, we were working at a small SHIELD facility, and they gave us two hours to spar together every week. It was fine for the first few months, fun even. But Daniel, he had beat most of the people in the room, and really held his head high because of it, you know? Well, it was my turn. And he thought it was hilarious that I used a stick instead of knives or guns or something like that."

Jack nodded his head eagerly, beckoning Alex to go on.

"So, um, he said that he'll spar with a Bō as well. And, um, we did and he lost, and he got really mad, so he tried with knives." Alex gave a nervous smile. "And he couldn't get a hit in. So he got really really pissed off and tried to spar with the first person he saw." Alex's smile turned into a rueful grin. "Turns out Christine wasn't too happy about. She put him DOWN. So ever since that day, I've been the first one he turns to when he feels like punching something."

"Alex! What don't you defend yourself? You said it yourself, that you beat him!" Jack said, waving his staff around for emphasis. Some of the agents skittered away, though.

Alex's face turned solemn. "There's a strict rule about fighting in the game room. It's not allowed, under any circumstances. If there's even a whisper that there was a fight, Fury'll shut the place down for a whole month! and, well the only place Daniel tries to throw a punch, is, well, in the game room." Alex shrugged his shoulders.

Jack's cringe returned to his pale face. There had been a fight in the game room. He had frozen someone for God's sake! He desperately hoped that nobody will breathe a word about this out of the room.

Jack's somber thoughts were interrupted when he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He spun around, expecting to see another agent from the congratulatory committee, but all he saw was a very sweaty, and very nervous looking blonde girl. She was small in height and stature, with brown eyes and tamed curly hair. Jack noticed a group of people, who he presumed were her friends, staring at her from a distance. They must've put her up to whatever she was going to say.

"Umm, er," she stuttered, "uh, first, I uh just wanted to say thanks, about, y'know, before, but I also wanted to ask uh.." Jack leaned on his staff, his eyebrows raised. This oughta be interesting,

"Well, er, when you were about to, uh freeze that guy, uh Daniel, it got, uh really cold in here, and it was kind of um, nice, so I," she glanced nervously at her friends, who peered at her with wide eyes, "uh, we were wondering if you would uh, make it cold in here?" Her voice squeaked at the end of her stuttered sentence, and Jack gave her a surprised look.

"You want me to freeze the floor or something?" Jack asked.

The girl went very pale. "Uh! No! If you don't want to, I mean you don't have to freeze the floor, we were just wondering if... maybe?" The poor girl raced through her sentence, and Jack felt really bad for her.

He grinned at her, taking notice of how she held her breath and stared with wide, frightened eyes.

"Sure." He said. "That shouldn't be a problem. I guess it is really hot in here, I've been sweating all night!" He joked.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at him, taking a few steps back. Jack noticed the rest of the room, leaning forward in anticipation, all holding their breath. Jack took a light step back, and surveyed the large room. There was more than enough space to ice a huge expanse of the floor without damaging the tables, chairs or snack machines that dotted the room. Jack decided that the large space at the back of the room, would do just fine.

He flew off of the ground, and to the other side of the room, ignoring the collective gasps that sounded as he did. With a deep breath, and a burst of energy, the frost spirit touched his staff to the ground and let the ice flow out from his fingers. He let the power be channeled through the staff and spread along the floor. It took about a minute, and pretty soon he opened his eyes to an icy floor and gaping faces. Alex was the first to take a running start, and flop himself down on the ice, in an attempt to cool his flushed cheeks. Everybody else joined in, either copying Alex, or sitting down.

For the rest of the night, Jack found himself surrounded by new faces and new friends. He and Alex chatted the night away, meeting new people and Jack realised that he was truly enjoying himself. He actually felt as if he belonged here, as if maybe, if he really tried, he could call this place a second home.

* * *

><p>'MARP MARP MARP'<p>

The obnoxiously us blaring of a white alarm clock shook Jack Frost from his slumber. He groaned in annoyance and slapped a pale hand onto the offending machine, turning it off. A few second later, Jack heard a banging knock at the door.

"Jack!" Alex yelled, "You better not make me come and try to haul your ass outta bed this morning, because I swear to god, you almost froze me to the damn roof when I tried yesterday!" The impatient man stuck his fiery-red head through the door, and narrowed his eyes at Jack's slumped form.

"C'mon, I know training has been sucky the past couple of days, but if it makes your morning better, today's the day you get to train with me! And you can take a guess at what I've got planned on your training schedule!" He taunted. Jack groaned once more, and threw a poorly formed, but very well aimed snow-ball at the blur of red he saw talking at his door. The door closed with a small slam just before the ball of snow hit.

With a hefty sigh, Jack stood from where he sat slouched on the side of his bed, and began to get ready for the day. It's had been three days since all the stuff that happened in the gaming room. Obviously, Fury wasn't too impressed at the huge puddle of water he found in the large room the following morning. He put Jack through a day or rigorous training, using strange machines programmed to attack him, and only him. Jack had actually found the event quite frightening, and ended up freezing the lot of them out of frustration and fear.

Fury didn't like that too much, so he assigned some agents to teach Jack some more basic defence manoeuvres, and they weren't as forgiving, or patient for that matter, as Coulson was. The first two were abrupt, impatient, and quite frankly, rude. They shouted at him to either stand straighter or put his feet in a certain place, and Jack found it exhausting. The third, though, Jack recognised from the gaming room, and he went a little easier, offering funny comments about the various tactics and poses they performed.

The next day, Jack absolutely refused to leave the comfort of his bed, and ignored Alex's relentless knocking. It came to the point where his partner had to actually come in to the room and try to rouse Jack from his rebellious slumber. The spirit had freaked out and in a half-awake frenzy, he had frozen Alex's sleeve. It really was a big stretch to say that he had tried to freeze him to the roof.

Training that day was much like before, only with tougher agents, and a lot more yelling. Jack had retired that night with a bruised body and a hell of a headache, and the only reason he didn't ice the door shut today is because Alex had mentioned that today he would finally be learning how to use his staff as a proper weapon. He wanted to be as good as everyone said Alex was, he wanted to learn how to properly use his beloved staff.

Something was going on around the SHIELD Helicarrier, Jack could sense it in the air. Everyone who was anyone around here knew what what was up, and it had them all on edge. Jack got the feeling there was a timer, counting down his time here, as if it were now or never.

* * *

><p>"JACK! FOR GOD'S SAKE DEFEND YOUR RIGHT SIDE!" Alex screamed at him through the flurry of movements. It turns out Alex was another yeller, and Jack was getting sick of it. He had been in the air-conditioned training room a little over an hour now. The first half hour had been fine, as he and Alex had sat down and discussed how to properly hold the Bō, and what Jack's stance should look like when he swung.<p>

Fury had been keeping a keen eye on them, even at one point insisting that if Jack were to train in Bōjutsu, he actually use a Bō, but Alex nervously explained that Jack's staff was a different shake and weight, and that if he were to switch from a Bō to staff after he had already trained with a Bō, his swing would be off, or something like that. Fury had only grunted in response.

But after the explanations were over and done with Alex Summers had gotten straight down to business. His process was to go slowly, and guide Jack through various swings and stances, and put them all together in the end. Jack was currently on his third match with Alex, practicing some of the 'slightly more advanced moves than the basic moves', as Alex had called it.

Jack went ok through the first two, but this time Alex had his focus on disarming your opponent. Jack's right side was open again, and Alex gave it a small tap with the end of his Bō. Jack almost screamed in frustration, and tried twisting his body to the left in order to avoid a well-aimed blow, but Alex took advantage of his precarious balance, and hooked the end of his Bō in the crook of Jack's staff and yanked the magical branch out of the winter spirit's hands. Jack was already off balance, and the extra activity made him fall over, flat onto his ass.

"Alex, I swear to god, take away my staff one more time and I'll-"

"Jack. Don't throw threats around. It's not a healthy habit. I was taught the only time you can give a threat is when the person has wronged you in a severe way. Otherwise, they are small and hold no meaning. It can show a sign of weakness, and you, are not weak. So get up, and we'll try again." Alex didn't speak in harsh of judgemental tones, he spoke as if from experience, with a tone of sadness in his usually cheerful voice.

Jack took the hand that was offered to him, and got up onto his feet. They sparred again, and Alex was trying to be as patient as possible, but he was getting a little antsy. Jack was practically tripping over his own feet in front of him. hHe needed to find another way to approach this. An thought sprang to mind.

"Jack, have you ever danced before?"

Jack's pale brow furrowed in confusion, and he shook his head. "I've only seen people do it."

"Well, when I learned to dance, I got good at it by watching my feet. I watched the person in front of me move their feet and followed the way they moved. So I want to try something different."

At the gesture of Alex's hand, the two moved back into position, with the two standing about 6 feet apart. "Now Jack, we're not going to hold hands or anything, but I want you to follow the way my feet moving. We're not going to move our hands, only our feet, and just watch the way I move as I go through the practice attacks, and follow."

Jack's brow was still furrowed, but he nodded his head, and focused on his feet.

Alex took a deep breath, praying that this would work. He put his left foot back, and Jack followed, taking a step forward with his right foot. Alex stepped back again with his other foot, and Jack followed. He took a step forward, and Jack stumbled a little, before regaining his composure and stepping back. After a minute, the two were moving in perfect unison, following each other's steps, getting faster and faster as they stepped and twisted around the room.

After a few minutes, the Jack seemed to get what was happening, and slowly, but surely, began looking up from his feet, and up at Alex, who was wearing his trademark grin.

"See? This is your footwork. The way you move with your feet completely depends on how well you're going to fight, if you're tripping over your own feet, or getting twisted up, there's no way you're going to be able to hold your own against your opponent." Alex said as they stepped through the moves.

After the 11th repeat of all the moves put together, Alex stopped and asked, "So, do you think you've got that memorised?"

Jack nodded his head, looking up and giving Alex a smug smile, his chest puffed out. "I had it on the 8th go."

"Awesome! Now pick up your staff and we'll try mixing in the hand manoeuvres."

* * *

><p>Jack flopped down onto the sofa, his white bangs falling into his face. He was absolutely exhausted, and didn't even notice he had iced over the while sofa until Alex cleared his throat. Jack groaned. "I don't even care anymore. I'm done for the night." He threw his pale arm over his sweaty face and groaned again.<p>

Alex smirked. "You've done so well today, I'm really proud of you. You still have a lot more to ,earn though, and I think patience is one of them, judging on how you almost snapped your Bō when you kept stuffing up the hand movements."

Jack could hear the smug smile evident in Alex's voice, so he didn't take too much offence. He just let out an exasperated sigh and shifted his weight to face the back of the icy sofa. Jack heard Alex scoff, and listened to his soft footsteps as he exited the below-zero room. As he lay side on, facing the back of the sofa, he thought about what Alex had just said.

He said he was proud? Of him? Nobody had ever been proud of Jack before. Nobody had said that they were proud of him for saving their friend, or helping them through the snow. But that was because nobody had ever seen him do it. Now, now he had people that could see him, people that were helping him. People that were his friends. Right then and there, Jack decided that he was going to put every ounce of effort into learning what Alex had to teach. He wanted to learn, he wanted to be able to kick every offending as out there, if it came down to it. But for some reason, that got him thinking. How was the research coming along with the strange statue? Jack got goosebumps just thinking about it. The sinister energy that the thing gave off was too strange to ignore. It felt so wrong, yet somehow Jack felt connected to it. Why would-

There was a knock at the door. Thinking Alex had forgotten something, Jack yelled for them to come in, and returned his thought to the mysterious figurine. There was a few brief seconds if hesitation before a beeping sounded and the door whooshed open. Heavy footsteps sounded in the far end of the living room, and Jack's brow furrowed. Those certainly weren't Alex's footsteps, they were too heavy-

Steve cleared his throat. To say Jack jumped would be an understatement. He damn well FLEW to the other side of the room, and collided with the wall in his haste, leaving the faint indentation of where his right arm had tried to brace his impact on the wall.

He recovered quickly though, and padded back over to Steve, grinning. "Steve! I haven't seen you in ages!"

Steve smiled lightly and settled himself down on the sofa opposite to where Jack had been lying on moments ago. "It's good to see you too. Seems like you were a little spooked, I, uh, apologise for, you know, scaring you."

The corners of Jack's mouth turned down to form a slight frown, and he floated over to the icy sofa and settled himself down. "I'm not the only one who seems a little spooked, Steve. What's going on? Is something wrong?"

Steve swallowed and sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Jack, I was there, in the gaming room that night. I saw what you did to that guy. I'm here to tell you this, because I doubt that Alex would've. Jack, that was a bad thing you did, that night. Horrible in fact. Sure, it was funny when you did it to Clint, it was just us in that room. But that night, there were at least a hundred people in there! Not only did you freeze that guy, but you embarrassed him in front of the whole room. He took the next plane boarding agents and decided to work at a SHIELD base, instead."

Jack's eyes had widened in disbelief, and he swallowed the bile rising in his throat.

Steve continued. "But, I didn't come here to grill you. That night, you also did something I bet most of the other agents in that room would've done. You swallowed your pride, and let him go." Steve paused, waiting for Jack to look up.

With a nervous swallow, Jack looked up and met Steve's eyes. "Jack, there is so much potential in you, and I saw even more when you let that man go. Fury must've seen it too, when he watched the security footage, because him and I had a little chat. You have your moral code, and it's one every soldier, or even anyone learning how to fight, should have, and stand by. Fury has had far too many agents go overboard with their training, they killed without mercy, or remorse. Most of them were fired from SHIELD and became mercenaries for bad people. SHIELD ended up having to hunt them down and either kill them, or lock them away for the rest of their lives. I'm not saying that you won't ever kill Jack, because whether you like it or not, when you work for SHIELD, it does happen. But what I'm saying, is that you should always stick to the number one rule: never kill without reason."

Steve seemed like he had more to say, so Jack nodded for him to go on.

"Jack, your powers are amazing, but they are also dangerous. Fury can't handle anyone getting hurt while they're trying to train you to use them properly. So, because of my 'super-human' abilities, I have nominated myself. Fury thinks it's a good idea, because I can take a hit. I'll teach you how to use your powers effectively, and, uh, mentor you, I guess, about tactics and ethics of battle. Does that sound good to you?"

Jack wasn't confused anymore, but more-so excited. He got to work with Alex and Steve?! He got to be trained to use his staff, as well as be trained to use his powers in proper battle? He jumped for his answer.

"Of course it does! I can't wait!" He grinned.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - Hey guys! I cannot apologise enough for not updating for sooo long! I live in Australia and school has just started back up again, so I can't sit on my ass all day anymore :( which also means I don't have too much time for writing :( I will try to get a new chapter up ASAP with more stuff that happens I guess. I've got the story all planned out now so I actually know what I'm doing lol. Can't wait to hear from you! Tell me all the mistakes I made, and all the things I (hopefully) did right! Things you liked/disliked I want to hear them all. To all those lurking in the shadows, please Fav, Follow, Review! **

**P.S (If anyone out there is even remotely good at drawing, I NEED YOUR SKILLS! Contact me please!**


	9. Chapter 9

"1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4." The droning chant echoed through the vast space of the large training hall. If you looked from a distance, you would see a flame-red head dressed in black, leading a white-locked Winter spirit through the more advanced steps of Bōjutsu. If you got close enough, you would see the light trickle of moisture on the ginger, and the waterfall of sweat on the White-haired boy.

Yes, Jack had come far with his training in the past two weeks. He had made true to his promise, and put his blood, sweat and tears into improving himself. He was now what Alex called 'mostly intermediate', whatever that meant. At the moment, he had thrown himself into training, as usual, and was looking forward to another training session with Steve, which by the way Alex was pushing him, was coming up within the next few minutes.

"Good... Jack! Just... watch... your... FOOTING!" He shrieked, using his weight to push forward against the crossed where his Bō crossed with Jack's staff, quickly pull away, leaving Jack off balance, and swing his stick as hard as he could at Jack's poorly placed feet. That made 9 times in a row, one every day. Jack never it coming, and it usually happened too fast for him to counter it, or to fly up out of the Bō's path. He grunted, and pulled himself to his feet with a scowl.

The boy looked his partner dead in the eye. "Why."

Alex gave him a grin. "Your left foot was facing inwards a little too much. As your teacher, it is my duty to correct it." He paused at Jack's blatant scoff. "Plus, if I don't put you on your ass at least once a day, who will?" Jack's scoff turned into a sigh, which then turned into a cheeky smirk.

Alex eyed him warily. "Jack, - AAH! HEY THAT'S COLD YOU SICK BASTARD!"

Jack grinned triumphantly at the small patch of ice residing under Alex's armpit. He knew damn well that if Alex had the choice of a mission in a somewhat cold place, or the Sahara Desert in the middle of July, he would always choose to endure the heat. The cold was not a strong point for Alex Summers, and it made their partnership all the more interesting.

"Aww, Jack! I can't get it out from underneath my suit, it frozen to the fricken leather! Now I have to melt it myself." He groaned. Jack snorted, but didn't say anything.

Steve enters the room, looking tranquil and peaceful as usual. That was until he saw Alex with his suit half-unzipped and his hand under his armpit, in an attempt to melt the ice. Steve gave Jack a deadpan look, and walked over to Alex.

"What did you do." He sighed.

"I knocked him on his ass for the 9th time in a row!" Alex answered, pulling his hand out of his suit with a wince and zipping it back up again. With a final narrow eyed glance in Jack's direction, Alex picked up his gym bag and exited them room. Jack caught the solemn promise in his green eyes and groaned loudly.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "What?" He asked.

"It's chick flick night tonight." The spirit answered glumly.

"How do you know? I thought Alex chose the movies randomly?"

Jack scowled. "I saw it in his eyes. He's going to make me watch that notebook movie, I know it."

"Well Jack, it's like I've taught you. Every action you take and decision you make have consequences. Whether you step on a land mine or an ant, that single step you have taken has affected something in the world."

"Yeah, I know. But what would you have done?"

The super soldier dropped his bag down and looked at Jack. "I would've moved my left foot outwards a little more." He replied.

Jack's mouth twitched. "I guess the super enhanced hearing does come in handy, doesn't it?"

Steve ignored his last comment and stepped into a basic defence stance. Jack grinned. He often thought that using his powers on Steve would trigger some kind of bizarre memory of being trapped in the ice, but Steve didn't seem to mind too much. As long as Jack kept it above the waist and below the neck, that is.

The soldier began the lesson with a brief rundown of what they were doing. They were skipping out on the actual lecture today, and getting straight into action. Jack begun the lesson by hurling an ice-ball straight for the middle of Steve's chest. The soldier side-stepped with a practiced ease. Jack grinned devilishly, and soon had Steve dodging flurries of loosely packed snowballs, using them to keep him at bay, whilst Jack tried to find some ground. It was hard though.

Steve seemed to take a step forward for every step he was knocked back. With an exasperated wave of the staff, Jack dumped a huge pile of snow on top of the super soldier's head, or rather his whole body.

If you were watching in the side-lines, as Fury was, you would've laughed outright at the cheekiness of the white-haired kid. But not the super-spy. He merely grimaced. He knew what is was like trying to dig your way out of snow. It wasn't easy, or pleasant for that matter.

He had been watching progress for some time now. Jack and Alex Summers worked rather well together, just as Fury had expected. Fury had a feeling about that guy. He knew he would be good to keep around. A spy usually learned to trust their gut.

Alex had proven to be an excellent teacher, and almost had Nick Fury considering asking him to teach Bōjutsu to the rookies. He, himself had certainly found the martial art extremely useful on more than one occasion. He hoped to God Jack would master the art as well, if he wanted to properly utilise that staff of his. The kid had a killer swing, but he wasn't quite there yet when it came to his focus. He was too easily distracted by the little things. He would stop fighting to stare at a chip in the floor, or a boot print that was bigger than his bare foot. It was so strange, but Fury figured it was a phase, so he put it in the folder that housed his lesser problems.

The black-clad Man stared scrutinisingly down at the pair who was well into a good sparring session. It was different from what usually went on, and that was because Fury had made damn sure of it. He had stopped Steve in the hall that morning, and given him strict instructions for today's training with Jack. Now, he got to sit back and see how his little experiment would play out. He wanted to see how the kid would respond to anger.

Fury watched as the agents he had prepared files into the room, yelling obscenities at Steve, and separating him and Jack. Jack was too stunned to move, and let himself be pushed around. Steve was 'fighting' off a few of the agents, who were all wearing black masks that moulded to the shape of their face. After a few minutes of struggling, Jack seemed to snap out of his daze and jump back into the writhing mass, where Steve was trying fight his way through.

Fury sounded a beep in the room, and exactly six hand chosen agents rushed forward and dragged Jack back, attempting to pull his staff away. The kid clung in to it for dear life, and could only watch as more and more of the agents 'overpowered' Steve.

One of them hit him over the head with a rather brutal amount of force, and Fury cringed. He knew Steve could handle it, though. But something strange happened. Even as the many agents continued to cling onto him like drowning cats, Jack began lifting up off of the ground, and started to glow.

'_What's going on? Why the hell isn't Steve fighting back?' _Jack didn't know the answer to any of the questions that rushed through his brain. He was getting angry, an anger he had never felt before, not this way. He struggled for control for a short while, but stopped completely when he saw Steve pass out. Someone had hit him over the head. His friend was _bleeding._

The spirit's eyes went wild, and all he saw as he rose into the air was a vivid blue, and the outline of the writhing mass of bodies. He didn't even feel the heavy weight of the string of agents holding onto his legs. Jack was on autopilot. He felt the rage build up beneath his hands, and barely registered the faint ringing of the alarm, or even the fact that the agents had dispersed. He pointed his crooked staff at the people that still surrounded Steve, and let all of the sheer rage and raw energy loose. Speaking bolts of what looked to be frost-lighting ripped from Jack' staff.

But he missed his target. How could've he had hit it with the ever vigilant Christine clinging onto his leg? She saw what was going to happen, and made a move to prevent it. She saw, that Jack, he...he wasn't himself. He was...different. The temperature dropped right away, his hair began to float up around him, and his pale skin had glowed _blue. _And his eyes... It wasn't right.

So as she saw Jack point the staff at the crowd beneath them, she swung all her weight forward, making sure that the atomic blast of ice hit the re-enforced ceiling instead. It was blinding. So powerful it cut out the electricity and lit the room back up again because to the sheer intensity of the light. That's not to say it didn't leave a mark. The titanium-enforced roof twisted and groaned under the pressure of the icy hit. A wave of sheer cold ricocheted throughout the room, knocking over the ranks of agents or sending them flying to the far walls. Christine felt, rather than saw Jack go limp and pass out.

Thinking quickly, she clung onto Jack, gripping him in a bear hug, and rolled herself underneath him just before they hit the hard ground of the training floor. All the breath was knocked out of her, and her vision blurred around the edges as she shoved the unresponsive kid off of her chest. Steve was already rushing forward, quickly checking over Jack before helping her up. He ripped off her black mask and she gasped for breath.

Embarrassed from his attention, she shoved Steve away and attempted to stand on her own two feet, but only achieved in falling over again. Her vision was spotted black, and she felt numb. The searing burning in her ankle was nothing compared to the pounding in her head. After a few seconds, she passed out altogether.

* * *

><p>Jacks dreams were filled with hazy images of figures in masks and devastating ice-storms. He found it hard to remember much, but one thing stood out among the blurred images. Jack was standing on an endless ice flat, watching a figure in a fluttering black cape, taking slow, agonising steps forward, dragging a glowing blue sword behind it. The person looked downright sinister, clad in it's black armour. The armour itself was unusual. It was mostly black, but if you looked hard enough, one could make out the strange flashes of royal blue. The way the blue swirled through the armour and cape, made it seem as if they were alive.<p>

Another striking feature was the glowing silver hair. The figure, Jack had presumed to be a male, had his head facing the ground as it stepped forward. His silver hair spilled down the side of his face, lightly dusting over his padded shoulders. The sword glowed brighter and brighter as he got closer and closer, and Jack could make out the flowering ice patterns that were etched along it's razor sharp length. In his dream world, Jack gasped and took a step back. They looked so much like his own...

It seems the figure was only moving slowly so Jack could get a proper look at him, because as soon as his eyes wandered, the armoured man rushed forward, stopping only four feet away from Jack and bringing his sword above his head. Jack tried to fly away, but it was no use. His feet were planted firmly to the ground. The figure raised the sword higher, and it glowed so bright Jack had to squint his bright blue eyes.

With a motion so fast, Jack would've missed it if he blinked, the man slammed the sword into the ice, splitting it straight down the middle. The cracking sound echoed throughout the land, and Jack felt himself shiver. He watched, frozen, as the figure bent over the sword, gasping for breath. After a minute, Jack peered down at him, leaning closer. With a sharp movement, the sword-man whipped his silver head up and found Jack's eyes. Bright blue eyes met copies of themselves, and Jack gasped again. He shivered at the evil feeling resonating from the man, and tried to look away. It felt as if he was staring directly into Jack's soul.

The ice was still cracking, and the Winter spirit found himself sinking as the ice began to fall away. The man stood up, and looked down at Jack, the wind whipping his silver locks about his narrow face. With a final crack, the ice fell away completely, and Jack drifted back into the abyss of darkness...

* * *

><p>Jack awoke to the sound of a recurring beeping and the patter of footsteps across from where he was laying. His staff was leaning against the pasty white wall next to him. He groaned aloud, and tried to sit up, but the dizzy feeling in his head pulled him back down again. A woman dressed in white rushed over and shone a torch into his eyes, making him groan again and cover his face. He saw Steve, who he didn't notice was beside him, lean over his body, looking worried. Jack watched with amused interest as the woman shooed him away. Steve gave her his best puppy-dog eyes, but the lady wasn't having any of it. She sharply instructed the super soldier out of the room, "<em>IMMEDIATELY<em>".

With a final glare at the door Steve had exited from, she turned and walked over to Jack. Her no-nonsense attitude had softened a little, and Jack found himself relaxing from the tense atmosphere of the room. "How're you feelin' hun?" The woman asked warmly.

Jack tried to say he was fine, but it came out as a pained groaned when his head decided to thump painfully. The woman chuckled. "I thought so. SUSAN! BRING THE PILLS!" Jack winced at the loud sound of her voice.

A bored looking girl entered the room carrying a tray with water, some small white things and a sandwich. Jack's mouth watered at the sight of the sandwich, and he looked at the girl expectantly. The girl's bored stare turned to where Jack was lying on his bed, and her eyes turned wide and fearful. With rushed movements, she shoved the tray into the older woman's hands and bolted out of the room as fast as her feet could carry her.

Jack's face fell. With his pounding head and sore body mixed in with the sudden heartache of the fear he saw in that girl's eyes, the frost spirit felt close to tears. His throat closed up as he remembered what had happened. The people in masks, Steve, _the blast. _Was anyone hurt? Why did he pass out? How long had he been out for? _What the hell had he done? _

The woman in white sighed, and placed the tray on Jack's bedside table. "You scared a lot of people hun, my young apprentice over there is only frightened of the rumours. It's not like she heard what actually happened. Captain America himself explained what went on. He's worried about you, and I'll let him in once you swallow those pills and finish off that sandwich, ok?"

Jack nodded dully, and set to the task of eating his food. Whereas moments ago he felt absolutely ravenous, now he didn't feel like eating anything at all. He had hurt people, he just _knew _it. Where are they now? How badly were they hurt? The door clicked shut as they nurse, who had been writing down something on a clipboard, left the room.

A few minutes, and half a sandwich later, the door opened and Nick Fury stepped into the room. "Jack!" He boomed. "I'm glad you're awake, we have a lot to discuss."

'_You're telling me." Jack thought to himself._

The one-eyed master spy made himself comfortable in the small chair beside his bed.

"Now, I-"

The door burst open with a bang and an exuberant looking Alex rushed through the door, only to stop dead at the sight of Fury's glare. With a wide-eyes look of innocence, the red-head back out of the room, shutting the door with a soft click.

A moment of silence passed, and it was like Alex had never been there at all.

"Jack, you've been out for 4 days." Fury said simply, awaiting a reaction.

Jack shrugged. The agent raised an eyebrow at the seemingly uncaring kid. "That doesn't come as a shock to you?"

He shrugged again. "The most I've ever been 'out' for is over a month, I think. I'm not sure _exactly _how long. The director processed this new information pretty quickly. "Well, it was enough to make us all worried. The nurse says you're doing well. No concussions of broken bones. Just a lot of bruising."

"Did I kill anyone?" Jack asked quietly, refusing to look at Fury in case he saw how close he was to crying.

"No, just knocked em' out for a little while. The worst you gave anyone was a minor concussion, and that was because she was clinging onto your leg. If it weren't for her, a lot more people woulda' been in a lot more pain. So, I could say the whole thing went rather ok. I was expecting a lot worse,"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about? These people came in and tried to take Steve, and you say you knew about it? What if they had of taken him and got away? They could've KILLED him! I could've killed THEM!"

"Kid, calm down. Trust me, Steve was in no danger. He could've taken down al of those people with a flick of his finger if he wanted to."

"Why-"

"Why didn't he? Well that's because I told him not to. In fact, he had no choice in the matter. It was a test, Jack. To see how well you respond to _fear. _We needed to see how you would've reacted in a surprise situation. We're sorry to of have scared you like that Jack, but that blast, that _thing _you did, it could save lives, Jack. If you learn how to control it, imagine what you could do! You could take down waves of enemies. I get that you don't want to kill anyone, I get that. What I'm saying is, if you learn to control you're new power, you can use it without killing anyone, and you can use it to your advantage."

Jack stayed silent. He couldn't, _wouldn't, _look Fury in the eye. '_It was a test. Nothing more, nothing less. Those were agents under those masks,' _ Jack was disgusted by the idea that he had hurt his fellow co-workers. '_Who was the girl who hung on his leg?" _Eventually, Fury got up and left, sighing to himself.

After only 10 minutes with his thoughts, Jack heard the handle turn and saw two cautious heads peak simultaneously into the room. He saw a flash of blonde and a flash of red, as Alex and Steve cautiously looked around the room. Probably cautious of the nurse. Alex grunted the all clear confirmation, and rushed forward.

"Jack! Oh my god you've missed out on so many movie nights. We'll have to spend all day catching up." He groaned. Jack smiled weakly, banishing his previous thoughts and focusing his attention on his talkative partner.

Jack smirked up at him. "Well, I knew you had one of those chick-flicks planned, so I decided to nap for a few days. Jack heard Steve snort from across the room. He still hadn't come over to Jack's bedside yet, and chose to stand by the doorframe, looking at his feet. Jack thought he looked like a kicked puppy.

Jack sighed. He was still mad at Steve, furious actually, but the spirit decided he had hurt enough people, and chewing out Steve for something he had no choice in, wouldn't benefit anyone right now. "It's ok, Steve. I know it wasn't your fault."

The soldier took a few cautious steps forward, looking unsure. Jack gave him a weak smile and he crossed the room, collapsing down into the chair Fury had occupied. Steve ran his hands through his sandy blonde hair and sighed to himself. "Jack, I don't know what to say. Fury stopped me in the hall, just as I was about to walk in. He told me the plan, told me not to hurt anyone and pretend to be overpowered by everyone else. Jack, I'm so sorry."

Jack yawned, making Alex yawn as well. "I'll kick your ass later Steve, I'm actually kinda tired."

Alex guffawed and Steve chuckled. "I'll be on my guard. Rest up, Jack. Fury wants you back in that training room by tomorrow."

Jack grimaced, and waved goodbye to the disappearing figures. He let his eyes drift shut.

* * *

><p>His only dream started with bright, blue eyes. They surrounded his vision, made him shiver from head to toe. What was this strange feeling? He felt like he needed...warmth. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to curl up in front of a warm, crackling fire. Was Jack Frost, the bringer of Winter... cold? Jack blinked, and the eyes he was staring into disappeared. The cold feeling left him, and he felt normal again. Except for the strange prickling feeling on the back of his neck, that is.<p>

Jack whipped around to the sound of a deep growl, and spotted the figure about 10 feet away from him. How could that be? He was difficult to see, due to the thick fog that had begun to creep in and wash through the empty land. The growl sounded as if he were right behind him. Jack blinked again, and the figure disappeared. Jack's eyes widened at the sound of another, more threatening growl directly behind him. He looked over his shoulder, only to find the sword man at the same distance away, but this time, both of his hands were behind the back of his head.

Jack tried not to blink this time as he watched man carefully, but eventually his eyes began to water, and he had no choice but to blink again. He turned automatically at the fierce growl behind him, only to find the figure holding onto his sword.

Jack blinked. He was getting rather tired of this, and kinda wanted to get on with it, and get it over with. Jack heard a terrifying roar echo throughout his ears. So loud, and so frightening, it made Jack kneel down on one knee, scratching at his ears. He was desperately trying _anything_ to make the sound go away.

All of a sudden, the air stilled, the snow stopped falling, and there was silence. Jack kept his head down, trying to recover from the sound that made his ears bleed, when he heard whispers. "_We're coming, we're coming, we're coming," _They echoed through the land like a broken record, sometimes overlapping the previous lot of words, sometimes leaving a gap of silence in between. The whispers began to mix together, creating a cacophony of noise, becoming faster and louder a deafening bang shot through the air, different from any other gunshot Jack had ever heard. There was a thud to his left, but the grey fog prevented Jack from seeing anything. All was silent, until the voices ripped through the air, all at once.

**"**_**WE'RE COMING!" **_

The frost spirit tried to scream, but his voice was raspy and soft. Jack looked up into the eyes of the figure once more. A deep, chilling voice that made him feel cold again, spoke. He didn't move his mouth, but the spirit heard loud and clear: _"We're coming, Jack Frost."_

* * *

><p>Jack Frost bolted upright in his hospital bed. The digital clock above the door showed the time to be late, and instead of finding the room to be its usual crisp white, he found parts of it to be frozen. His entire bed, for instance, was covered in a fine layer of frost, as well as where the floor and bed legs met.<p>

His half-empty glass of water stood frozen, and the ceiling fan had some impressive-looking icicles dangling from its blades. But the most noticeable thing, was the absolutely terrified looking young nurse, the same one from before, who sat crouched in the corner under the small, wooden desk. She was staring straight up at Jack, and was covering her mouth, trying to block out her screams.

Jack wasn't too sore anymore, so he got out of his comfortable frozen bed and cautiously stepped over to the frightened young thing. "Hey there, it's ok. I'm ah, sorry about this. It just happens sometimes." He said lamely.

She scooted as far away from him as she could, whimpering softly. "Please-please j-just don't freeze m-me."

Jack cringed as tears sprung into his ice-blue eyes. God, it was _him _that had terrified this girl to the point of begging. He had to let her know that he had no intention of hurting her,"Hey now, it's ok!" Jack reached forward to try and soothe her. Big mistake. She let out a piercing scream and Jack leaped away, flying up into the corner of the room by instinct. She wailed even louder, her uncontrollable sobs piercing through Jack's brain.

He had to get out of here. Surely someone had heard the crying girl already, and he didn't want to be here when they found her. What was he going to say? That he had a dream about a mysterious sword-man with silver hair and when he woke up the room was frozen and he found her like this? No, nobody would believe him.

Jack flew around the room, grabbing his staff as he went, and only managing to make the girl scream louder, and finally found an air vent. He struggled for a minute to get the thing open, and climbed in, just as he heard the handle turn. Jack half-crawled and half-flew through the metallic tunnels, desperately trying to get away. Everything was catching up with him. He could still hear the girl's screams school in his ears, could still feel the prickling stare of the Swordman on his neck.

Once he decided he was a safe distance away, Jack let himself rest. He sat down, put his head between his knees and cried. For the first time in over a century, Jack let the frozen tears flow. He remembered the fear he saw in the girls eyes, the fear he felt when Steve got taken away, the fear he felt even in his dreams. Jack Frost felt so weak, so... _ unable_. He wanted to hit something and repair it all at the same time. He wanted to wail and scream at the same time. He... he didn't know what he wanted, he just wanted everything to stop. All the bad stuff he'd ever done, he wanted to forget about. But he knew damn well how hard it was to forget something horrible. Oh, how easy it was to remember to horrible things and forget the good. It had always been that way for Jack.

Normally, seeing someone upset or scared like this wouldn't normally have such a big effect on the spirit, but knowing that he had scared someone so badly, that he had almost killed so many people only a short while ago, it really took a toll on him. He felt like all this training, and hurting people had stripped away his innocence. Had stripped away the person he had been for nearly 300 years. God, how long had it been since he'd been flying? Jack lifted his head and sighed. He needed to go flying, he needed to think. The only way he could do that was to drift through the clouds, and let the wind carry him through the air currents.

Jack shifted, and began crawling through the winding tunnels once more. He'd only done it once, and it didn't end too well. But Jack found that crawling through the tunnels was kinda like being invisible again, which is exactly what Jack needed right now. He needed a break from everything, and if he couldn't go flying, well, this was the next best thing.

Jack sat and watched a few agents fight, armed with only a small dagger each. A huge man, almost the size of Steve, was paired with a petite, small brown haired woman, she had large doe-eyes, and gazed up at the man with an innocent smile. His friends, who were lounging in the sidelines, jeered and laughed at the stakes of the match, but the man himself didn't seem too confident. Jack found out why after only a few minutes.

The tiny girl knelt on the larger man's back, digging her knee in between his shoulder blades and twisting his meaty arm well past his head. She let him go with a somewhat apologetic smile, and Jack kept moving. Like last time, he saw the various scientists with their noses buried in various tests and observations. They idly chatted to each other as they moved around the clean place, occasionally spouting some scientific mumbo-jumbo.

Jack found it comforting. He liked to just...watch. It made him feel at ease, calmed him down. He smiled as two of the people in white coats bumped into each other, almost causing them to spill whatever they were both carrying. The two backed away from each other very quickly, eyes wide and wary. After they were a certain distance away, they sighed in relief and ranted about how disastrous the mixing of the liquids could've been.

He kept moving, observing the day-to-day life of the various ranks of agents the strolled through the vast halls of the Helicarrier. Jack heard some juicy gossip about people he didn't know and even caught his name in one of the agent's conversations. It was strange to hear the group of men in front of him say his name. It made some of his more recent emotions come back, making the frost spirit shake his head and keep moving.

* * *

><p>What the White-haired being didn't realise, though, is that the sound of the staff he carried in his right hand made a noise audible from the outside every time he took a step forward with his right hand. Alex Summers, ever since dashing into a half-frozen room with a distraught girl and an open hatch in it, had been following that noise.<p>

Sometimes he would lose the sound, and dash madly into one of the closest rooms, only to catch a faint echo of the noise and resume his following once more. He was scared for Jack, scared of what the kid had possibly done to make that girl so damn frightened! It most definitely wasn't like him at all, and Alex knew it would take some serious talking to get a detailed explanation from Jack about the event.

Right now, for the 4th time, Alex had lost the trail of tapping sounds above his head, and, for the 4th time, madly rushed into the room closest to where he had heard the noise. Bingo. He heard the tapping, louder than ever this time. Alex must've been right underneath him! He walked through the room, filled with broken and ripped boxing bags. The tapping got louder as he went.

When the agent did find the source of the tapping, he was still deciding to laugh or groan. For the tapping wasn't the sound of a Winter spirit moving through the vents of the Helicarrier, it was Steve Rogers, struggling at the painstaking task of skipping a rope.

Alex chose to laugh at the stumbling soldier, catching his attention. Steve blushed a light shade of red and cleared his throat. "Uh, hi, Summers."

Alex wrinkled his nose at the use of his last name. "C'mon Steve, only Fury calls me that. Call me Alex, Summers sounds way too formal."

Steve grinned sheepishly as Alex continued.

"So, why are you trying to skip a rope? Thinking of an alternative to fighting bad guys? I'm sure the U.S. Skipping team would love to take you on board." Alex said, waggling his eyebrows.

Steve blushed again, but managed to give Alex a deadpan look.

"Actually, one of the agents recommended it. They said it helps to get you to be lighter on your feet. More agile, quicker, you know?"

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, I've heard about that before. You need a little more practice though." He grinned.

"Yeah, I know. It's a hell of a lot harder than it looks, I suppose." Steve sighed, as he folded up his rope. After he had finished packing away his gym equipment, Steve looked up. His expression changed from amused and weary, to confused and concerned. "Why'd you come here, anyway? Is Jack ok?"

The look on Alex's face showed that something bad had happened, and a few minutes later, the two found themselves rushing madly from the room and into the halls of the ship.

* * *

><p>The tears had started again. Had started to freeze their way down the top of Jack's cheek before plinking onto the metal floor of the vent. God, he was so embarrassed. He felt humiliated, after catching yet another, nastier conversation about him. Rumors had already spread far and wide, it seemed. The main topic of the conversation was Jack's 'brutal' performance in the training room, but there were whispers of how Jack had attacked a young nurse, and had escaped the Helicarrier. The tears had spilled over when he saw a group of armed SHIELD agents, patrolling the halls on the lookout for a rogue agent with ice powers.<p>

Jack didn't stop this time. He was still crying, but he knew if he stopped, he would cry even more. He just wanted to keep moving, try to block out the resurfacing memories. He just wanted to go flying. It always helped to clear his mind. Manoeuvring through the erratic currents of the wind eased his thoughts, relieved him of the tension that sometimes filled his body.

Jack sighed with relief as the tears finally slowed, and eventually stopped altogether. He spotted an empty-ish room through the slatted view of the air vent, and eagerly began pushing on the hatch in an effort to get it open. As his pushes turned into frustrated kicks, Jack thought about why he had been so emotional. The spirit partially blamed it on that awful dream he had experienced before he woke up. '_What was that anyway?' _He thought to himself.

The strange sound of a gunshot left him feeling uneasy. The thud that followed it didn't make him feel any better. Why did it all feel so ominous? _Who the hell _was coming? But most importantly, _who was that guy with the sword, and why did Jack feel so strangely connected to him?_ The being, whatever it was, was evil and dark. There was no mistaking that.

The dream itself was strange. Jack very rarely dreamt, and when he did, it was almost never good. Usually replays or twisted retellings of some of the nastier events he had witnessed through his lifetime.

Jack's mind flashed back to the sword, remembering the jagged frost patterns he had recognised decorating it's length. It wasn't unlike his own, simply darker, more scarier. It didn't represent the fun, youthful frost spirit that was Jack Frost, it represented a dark, ancient being, capable of killing thousands. Nothing about this guy seemed good.

Jack tried to convince himself that it was only a dream, and nothing more, but it as just so damn _hard _to shake the feeling that he _knew _who the figure was. _Knew _what it was capable of. _Knew _that it was downright sinister.

But where had he seen the familiar figure before? He just... it was right there, in his mind, but every time he reached out to grab it, it slipped through his fingers. It was very similar to his memories, which made it all the more frustrating for the spirit.

There was a buzz in the conversation of the agents Jack had been tuning out until now. He caught various names, something about a top secret project at an even more top secret SHIELD base. Jack listened, eventually putting the bits and pieces of the story together. Apparently someone had asked where 'Mr. Coulson' was, and a group of 10 or more agents felt obliged to answer. They had whispered rumours of Coulson being assigned to. A top secret mission for SHIELD's most top secret project somewhere at a top secret base. It all sounded very glamorous.

Jack began to move once more, his staff tapping as he went. The spirit had only taken a few steps when the metal around him was twisted away, a very-familiar red-head, and a grimacing super soldier. Thank god the agents had all dispersed moments ago.

Jack tried to fly away, using his most advanced escape manoeuvres to try to wriggle free of the grip Steve had on his hoodie. But it appeared that the student hadn't become the teacher just yet, and Steve managed to toss Jack over his shoulder and carry him to an empty room. Jack realised as he flew out of Steve's grasp that it was a lunch room that looked like it must've crossed paths with a small tornado. Broken lunch tables littered the room, overturned trays were scattered across the floor.

Jack flew toward the very end of the room, as two concerned faces stared him down. Jack couldn't tell through his frightened haze if they were angry, upset, worried, their faces kind of blurred. He didn't want to face them, couldn't face them. This was going to be one hell of a chat.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - First off, I want to apologise (again) for the series lack of chapters in this past amount of time. Just another serious case of writers block. Secondly, I want to say a HUGE big thank you to Brenne! For helping me out with fixing some of the errors in my story. For those who have commented, the story was originally in 1st person, and all that switching between 1st and 3rd is merely a result of crappy editing on my part. I will fix it up, but the days are getting shorter as school work stacks higher. *sigh* So it might take some time. I hope to have another chapter up soon. Sorry for all the angst in this chapter, I tried to write it as best I could, but I dunno, I personally don't like reading angst in a story (even though it makes it that much better) so I'll try to keep the angst on a down-low, okay? As always, any suggestions for where you might want to see the story go, and funny ideas that you want to see written, anything you object to, make sure you list it all in a review! You guys are seriously keeping this story going, love you all!**


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